


Our Minds Work in Mysterious Ways (But We Like It Like That)

by InsomniacAndBi



Series: Our Minds [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, Bisexual Hermione Granger, But we love her, Criminal Profiler, DMLE | Department of Magical Law Enforcement (Harry Potter), Deception Specialist, Emotion Reader, F/F, F/M, Fleur is a useless lesbian, Ginny is a little shit, I was rereading Naturals and this came to me, I'm so sorry, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lesbian Fleur Delacour, Luna has no social skills, Muggle Technology is mixed with Wizard Technology, Murder, Naturals Au, Serial Killer, Sketch Artist, Slow Burn, Statistician, angsty, kind of, like at all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:22:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 23
Words: 64,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26917306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsomniacAndBi/pseuds/InsomniacAndBi
Summary: Fleur was always an observer in life, choosing to watch and not get involved. So, she wasn't entirely what she was doing in a dingy old cottage with five other students whose minds worked in the same, odd ways as her own.An Au inspired by the Naturals book series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Relationships: Fleur Delacour & Hermione Granger, Fleur Delacour/Hermione Granger, Harry Potter & Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Series: Our Minds [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2029366
Comments: 80
Kudos: 273





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fleur moves into Shell Cottage and meets her new housemates

Fleur was an observer in life and didn't know how she ended up standing on the shore of Shell Cottage with her bags instead of being in her snug dorm at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic.

Well...that was a lie, Fleur knew exactly how she ended up here.

"Delacour, yes?" The gruff voice of retired Auror Mad-eye Moody had Fleur snapping her attention to the front. "Well, don't just stand there, girly! Come in!"

Fleur sighed but did as she was told, shouldering her bag and dragging her suitcase behind her. The house was...quaint, not as posh as the mansion that she had grown up in but it would do. Moody muttered something under his breath behind her before completely disappearing. Fleur huffed at that - it figures that the old man she was stuck with apparated out of the cottage without a moments thought to helping her.

The Veela took another glance around the room that she had been led into. It was obviously the main receiving room (Fleur inwardly scolded herself about letting her haughty side show). It looked well cared for...loved, even, with pictures covering almost every available surface. None of the pictures looked like they were related to each other. There was one moving picture of a woman with long silky brown hair, grinning and smiling. Another picture held a married couple, kissing each other with no care that Fleur was watching them in confusion.

"So," Fleur jolted when she heard a voice behind her," You must be the new girl, right? Fleur Delacour? D'you like the pictures? I think its a little too...bold for my tastes but, eh, what do I know?" The person talking as a girl. She seemed to be maybe fifteen (give or take a year or two), a bit on the tall side but nonetheless, average height for her age. Brown eyes sparkled with mirth as she waltzed forward, long ginger hair swaying with each step.

"Oui," Fleur replied," Ze pictures are...very nice."

She just couldn't help herself as she studied the girl. She just couldn't help pulling out strands of information, assumptions. It was a natural reaction - Fleur almost laughed at that. This odd little quirk of her's was the whole reason she was here in the first place. 

The girl was dressed in a Quidditch jersey. It was dirty, splattered with mud and worn out from being worn too much. She definitely played Quidditch - those who were just casual fans, observers, didn't often let their jersey's get so dirty even when they watched a particularly brutal match. Fleur would have pegged her as a tomboy then, just by the fact alone - wait...Fleur wrinkled her nose slightly as she girl stepped forward, hand already outstretched in greeting. She was wearing perfume, the type that was worn in Summer not Winter, like the season that they were in. 

Fleur couldn't put her finger on it but something about that little tid bit of information told her that this girl was somebody that didn't like to be put into boxes.

"Liar," The girl sung with a mocking tone," Ginny Weasley, by the way. Human lie detector." She mock bowed before levelling a cheeky grin at the new arrival. "And that's Theodore Nott -" She inclined her head to the boy nearby that Fleur had realised had followed her in "- He's our sketch artist, a damn good one."

The boy waved slightly in greeting before turning to head to the kitchen space nearby. His brown hair was cropped short - in an almost military type buzzcut. That showed two things to Fleur, either he didn't care for his appearance too much and kept it short for practicality's sake or he had grown up in some form of strict household and, even though he was now at Shell Cottage, some of those values carried through. Fleur was more inclined to think it was the second one, backed up by the fact that he was wearing a light brown, formal blazer and black trousers coupled with a white shirt. A tie was around his neck, pulled all the way up snugly to his throat.

"So," Fleur was a bit put out by this girl - Ginny's - attitude towards her. Not a lot of people liked being analysed in the way that Fleur did to people so she tried to not focus on it too much. "You said zat you do not like ze pictures. Can you tell me who zey are of?"

"They're all murderers and the like. That one," Ginny cracked a smile that could only be called predatory. Fleur filed that into her mental file for Ginny to study later. Her attitude changed at the drop of the hat. Either she was bipolar or Fleur's theory of her not liking to be put into a box was proving to be true. "Is Miss Aurora Sinistra. Mastery in Astronomy. Every time Mercury was in retrograde, she would kill somebody new. Got apprehended eighteen years ago and thrown into Azkaban." 

Theodore had joined them now, leaning casually on the armchair in front of the fire place, sipping from a Muggle drink that Fleur didn't recognise.

"And the happy couple is Laura Madley and Malcolm Baddock. Madley would seduce wizards and slip them sleeping draughts. Baddock would take them back home and torture them using the Cruciatus curse. Then," She hushed her voice," They would bake them into pies and eat them. Only the bones of their victims remained." Fleur's face must have looked as sick as she felt because Ginny smirked at her, once alight eyes suddenly going flat.

"Ignore her," Theodore said softly from where he stood," Ginny likes to embellish things. She's a lie detector - being a good liar tends to come with the territory."

Ginny shrugged daintily as she inspected her nails. "Telling lies, detecting lies, what's the difference really?"

Theodore looked at her fondly, a faint smile tugging at the edges of his lips. Fleur filed away that information for later as well. Her first impression of the boy was that he was from a strict, regimented home and had little to no social skills. Now though, Fleur amended that idea. He had social skills but was awkward around new people. He was wary around Fleur because she was new but comfortable around Ginny because they had lived together for who knows how long. He also seemed to be self-righteous with a strong sense of right and wrong. Anybody else would have allowed their friend to continue to play with the new arrival, allow Ginny to spin a web of lies until Fleur was eating out of the palm of her hand but not Theodore. He let the act drop before she got too far. Oh yes, Theodore Nott was a good person.

"So, zey are not all killers?"

Theodore's near smile dropped from his face. "No," He said," Ginny wasn't lying about that."

"It's the program's way of reminding us why we're here," Ginny deadpanned. Her mood had shifted as well - more unguarded then Fleur had seen her in their short interaction. Ginny seemed to peel off attitudes as easily as some people did clothes. Fleur briefly wondered if this was what the really Ginny was like. She didn't get to dwell on it for long because Ginny's barriers snapped straight back up. "Come on," She had gone back to being cheery again, reaching back to pull up her hair into a tight ponytail," Mad-eye won't be back for ages - he's probably gone to tell Amelia that you've arrived. I'll introduce you to everybody else. Coming along, Theo?"

The nickname struck Fleur hard. Try as she might not to stick her new housemates into a box, she just couldn't stop herself. Theodore - Theo - just nodded. The nickname may have been said in a mocking tone but the boy didn't seem to mind. Fleur's blue eyes flicked between them both. She could sense no underlying sexual tension or romantic leadings towards each other. They didn't look like they were in love or harbouring any romantic feelings. But they were close, just by the way that they moved. It was like a practiced choreography.

Ginny went first, sashaying around, light on her feet even though she was wearing heavy flying boots. Theo followed after, quiet but attentive. They were in sync with each other, more so then Fleur would expect from just friends. She had studied friendship groups before, watched the way that they acted around each other. Even the best of friends were still guarded with each other. Everybody held dark secrets that they didn't want their friends to know. Certain topics were skipped, movements were restricted but not these two.

Less friends...more family.

Fleur nodded to herself at this theory. She hadn't even realised that she had been led to the basement. She briefly wondered if Theo and Ginny had taken her here to murder her but, no, they didn't seem like the people to murder somebody they had just met. Ginny was definitely somebody who staked out her victim and Theo seemed liked he would plan out a murder to the highest detail possible. She almost winced at that dark line of reasoning. Perhaps Ginny's explanations of the pictures had affected her more than she thought.

The door was pushed open and Fleur almost gasped. The basement was decked out with something akin of mini movie sets. There were a few kitchens, a lounge, a bedroom. There was even a little make out spot by a cliff complete with a car to kiss in the back off. An explosion shot through the room and Fleur jumped - her hand immediately reaching for her wand. Ginny let out a short bark of condescending laughter. "Careful there, Phlegm," She said," Wouldn't want you to get too scared." Fleur bristled - she should have pegged Ginny to be the type of person to give somebody she didn't like a rude nickname.

"Don't mind her," Theo whispered as Ginny took off down the room again," Ginny will calm down eventually."

"Zanks."

"No problem," Theo walked with her," She just likes to...assert her power? I guess? Of course, I'm not the profiler so I wouldn't really know for sure."

They shared an awkward laugh as they stopped in front of one of the little movie sets. It was another bedroom one. It looked horrendous. The bed sheets were torn off and a fake body was trussed up to the still spinning ceiling fan using the duvet cover. A girl was sat on the floor watching it spin, muttering things under her breath so quickly that Fleur couldn't keep up with everything being said.

"Luna, this is Fleur Delacour - our new profiler. Phlegm," Ginny said," This is Luna Lovegood - our resident statistician. She's a riot with numbers and trends and a crack shot with her wand."

"Hello," Luna said softly, only taking one glance at Fleur before watching the body spin on the fan again. Most people would have considered Luna to be shy but Fleur didn't think that was the right assumption. Luna seemed...uncaring towards social interaction. She looked like she lived in her own world and didn't care what people thought. Fleur wasn't sure what gave her that idea (maybe her crumpled clothes or the way she seemed preoccupied with the situation she had set up which was concerning at best). "Did you know that it takes approximately ten seconds for the average person to fall unconscious after being choked? And then you have an extra five minutes before your brain starts to die because of the lack of oxygen? But technically speaking, this is a woodwind player. Statistically speaking, woodwind players have learnt the ability to maximise the amount of oxygen being taken into their lungs so...he has an extra two minutes. Did you also-"

"Ginny," Theo said in a tone that screamed his disapproval," Did you give Luna coffee?"

"No."

"Are you lying?"

"No."

"I hate you."

"That's a lie."

Fleur watched the interaction with interest.

This house was turning out to be more fun then Fleur originally thought. These people might not have had the class of the French but the English seemed to have a certain charm to them.

Apparently, Ginny had taken it upon herself to show Fleur around the house while Theo decided to stay with Luna to make sure all of the coffee had run out of her system. 

Ginny seemed to change her clothes just as much as her moods because, as they set off to find the next person living in the cottage, she was now wearing a set of ballet pumps with a tight fitting crop top emblazoned with the name of some Muggle TV show that Fleur's maman enjoyed watching. Her old tracksuit bottoms had been traded for a pair of white leggings that must have been a pain to keep so pristine.

The pair ended up in front of a door after a trip filled with tense silence. Fleur had tried not to psychoanalyse her new housemate and Ginny seemed inclined to watch the girl squirm. "Knock, knock," Ginny called before shoving the door open.

A boy was behind it, ruffled black hair and piercing green eyes. He looked to be in his pyjamas - which featured a shirt with little golden snitches on it. So, he was more than a causal fan of Quidditch. Casual fans never wore pyjamas to do with what they liked in passing. "Phlegm, this is Harry Potter - emotion reader," Ginny said curtly, leaning against the door frame, appraising eyes scanning over the sleeping boy," Harry, this is Fleur Delacour - she'll be working with Hermione."

The boy - Harry - blearily nodded, slipping on his glasses and sticking out his hand. "Nice to- Oh, you are ticked off. Annoyed and tired," He whirled around - suddenly more awake then before," Ginny, leave her alone."

"I didn't do anything."

Fleur was really beginning not to like this Ginny girl. Her ability to flawlessly lie was really grating on Fleur's last nerves.

"Sure you didn't Ginny," Harry rolled his eyes before turning back to Fleur," Sorry about her and sorry about reading your emotions - I understand if you-"

"Is is fine," Fleur waved it off," It would be 'ypocritical of me to not be okay wiz it. You do it automatically just as I do it."

Harry nodded at that and smiled. He raked his hand through his hair, making it messier than before. Fleur watched the action with interest. She didn't know if that meant Harry didn't care about his appearance or if he thought that it made him look more attractive.

Probably a bit of both, Fleur decided as she was led through another corridor where the three of them met up with Theodore and a sleepy looking Luna - who had probably just come out of her caffeine high.

Theo gave Fleur an amused smile. "Has Ginny traumatised you already?"

"THEO!" Ginny gasped dramatically, pressing a hand to her chest," It's almost like you don't trust me!"

"I wonder why," Theo replied sardonically with a roll of his eyes. There was a sense of fondness in the action and Fleur almost smiled at it had Ginny not thrown her a smug smile that - had Fleur still been at Beauxbatons - she would have responded with a hex.

An emotion reader, a sketch artist, a deception specialist, a statistician who was banned from coffee and Fleur.

"Is zat it zen?" She knew that her tone came out a little harsh but this impromptu tour was making her feet hurt," Just us five?"

Hadn't Ginny mentioned somebody else earlier?

"Well..." Theo glanced from Fleur to Ginny and back again," There's Hermione."

* * *

"Did you know that 16.4% of people identify their stalkers as their roommate?" Luna asked as all five of them trudged down another corridor in the cottage," But don't worry Miss Fleur, I won't stalk you."

Fleur was highly confused - something that Harry picked up immediately.

"That's Luna speak for 'We're going to be roommates'. Don't worry - you'll pick it up soon."

Fleur wasn't convinced. "Here we go, Phlegm," Ginny said as they reached a door at the end of the corridor," Time to meet your partner. Hermione's a profiler like you."

Unlike when she greeted Harry, Ginny actually knocked this time. 

There was no answer.

She knocked again.

Fleur had already begun to construct her profile for her 'partner' as everybody had called the girl. Physically, she wasn't sure what she had expected but, personality wise, Fleur expected somebody like herself. Somebody way out of the depth in this house. Perhaps somebody who shunned social contact - given that they had chosen the furthest room from everybody else in the house.

She, however, wasn't expecting such a beautiful girl to finally answer the door. Curly brown hair lay in near untameable waves on her shoulders. Headphones rested around her neck, connected to one of those Muggle 'phone' contraptions. Her eyes looked tired but were still the most beautiful eyes Fleur had ever seen before. Her brain practically short circuited at meeting the girl for the first time, she completely forgot to analyse her.

"What's going on?" 

Her voice - oh, her voice. Fleur nearly melted into a puddle then and there.

"Hermione!" Luna said happily," I just told my new roommate that she will not be in the 16.4% of people whose stalkers are their roommates!" 

Hermione smiled at the younger girl - a happy smile that kicked Fleur's brain back into gear. Her analysis began even as she rose herself up to speak.

"My name is Fleur Delacour," She held out her hand," I 'ave been told zat we will be working togezzer." Cataloguing away Hermione's posture and facial features, Fleur focussed on her clothes. She was very Muggle in attire, a ratty old band t-shirt from a group that Fleur definitely didn't recognise. The girl was obviously somebody from Muggle descent - whether half-blood or Muggleborn, Fleur wasn't quite sure just yet. She was barefoot as well so she was obviously at home with herself in this cottage. Fleur gathered that she had probably lived there for a while.

"She's a profiler," Ginny put in. Fleur would have thought that the lie detector was trying to help her but the smirk on her face proved otherwise.

Hermione stiffened.

"You're a profiler?"

"So I 'ave been told," Fleur said.

"Nice to meet you," Hermione said, less open than before but, at least, making an effort.

"Now," Ginny drawled in a sing song tone," That's not strictly-"

"Ginny," Hermione's tone was one of warning.

"Zat is not strictly what?" Fleur asked even though she and the others knew that Ginny's next word would be _true._

"Nevermind," Ginny grinned like the cat that had eaten the canary. 

Fleur studied Hermione again. Dark hair, dark eyes. Open posture but clenched fists, leg bouncing slightly even as she leant against the wall.

The girl in question turned to look at Harry with a glare. "If this is Amelia's way of getting me to socialise and play well with others then tell her thank you but no thank you." She then turned back to Fleur. "You'll be eaten alive here - get out while you can." She slammed the door shut.

"Hermione has a temper," Ginny shrugged, eyes alight in amusement - clearly happy with the trouble that she had caused. Fleur was still staring at the recently closed door.

"Gin," Harry scoffed," If Hermione had a temper then you would be dead."

"Don't be stupid, Potter," Theo said from the back of the group," Hermione won't kill anybody."

"Theodore is right," Luna threw in her own two knuts into the conversation," Statistically speaking, only 42% of killer's share Hermione's upbringing. The chance of her becoming a killer is low."

"Wanna bet?" Ginny was still grinning as she fished a galleon from her pocket and threw it into the air.

* * *

_You're standing in her bedroom._

_It's cold in her room and you're tempted to turn on the heater._

_You decide against it though, you won't be here for much longer anyway._

_Your clothes are strewn around the room and you hurry to pick them up._

_Having a shower takes away the early morning chill and as you wash, you try to remember what happened the night before._

_It was another girl, her hair was the right colour and her eyes were the exact right shade._

_She was perfect and all too happy to let take you back to her hotel room - too eager to have you alone._

_The scratches on your back stings a little under the hot water but you smile at it._

_Last night was good._

_It wasn't perfect but it was good._

_She was a screamer._

_It would have been perfect is she hadn't screamed so much._

_You step out of the shower._

_You dry your body and get dressed._

_You check yourself in the mirror._

_Your hands struggle to open her makeup bag._

_It was a deep black colour._

_You place it in your pocket and exit the bathroom._

_You step back into the bedroom and survey your work._

_If she hadn't screamed so much, if she hadn't fought back then she would have been perfect._

_You would have been perfect._

_You feel the rage boil up inside of you but push it down._

_You have somewhere to be._

_You sigh and pick up your bag._

_You leave the girl behind, tied up on the bed and symbols scrawled on her back._

_You should have been perfect._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fleur begins training  
> We learn more about the program and the inhabitants of Shell Cottage

The Naturals Program was not something that was well known to those outside of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

The idea was to bring together a group of young individuals who were 'naturally' good at something. So naturally good at something that it was second nature to them. Magic didn't count in that equation. The magical world had evolved and with it, so had crime and the laws surrounding it. It was no longer legal to use Veritaserum on suspects and the submission of memories had been banned after somebody had worked out a way to tamper with them with little to no means of detection. The Auror department had started to think more like Muggle detectives and the attitude seemed to work because of it. This was what the Naturals Program was about and Fleur found herself smack dab in the middle of it.

Run by Amelia Bones and Auror Andromeda Black Tonks with retired Mad-eye Moody to watch over the children, they were at full capacity with six Naturals living in Shell Cottage together.

When Fleur woke up on the second day, she noticed immediately that Luna snored in her sleep. She had been tired the night before and had gone to bed early, not having been awake when Luna had come to bed. Her side of the room was messy, papers strewn everywhere and anywhere and her side of the wardrobe was messy as well. Luna's clothes were full of colour - each and every colour of the rainbow with all sorts of shirts thrown about everywhere. The only thing that was neat in the room was Luna's two pairs of shoes at the foot of her bed.

Padding down to the kitchen, Fleur set to work with making herself some breakfast. There were none of her fancy French delicacies, much to her displeasure, so the Veela girl had to settle with some cereal. "G'morning," Harry slurred as he slumped into the seat next to her. He was wearing his Quidditch pyjamas again, yawning and laying his head on the cold countertop.

"Good morning 'Arry," Fleur said politely. She had gotten up a little later then she would have, had she returned to Beauxbatons. "Do you know what we are going to do today?"

"M'not sure 'bout you," Harry said, voice still hoarse with sleep," But Amelia usually has me going through old witness testimony videos - cold cases only, of course. But you'll be working with 'Mione and Auror Black-Tonks. It'll probably be more interesting then what I did in my first month." He looked more awake now, leaning on the counter with a smile on his face, voice hushed," On my first month, they had me watching foreign movies - _without the subtitles."_

"Emotions aren't what people say, lad," Moody limped into the room, his wooden leg hitting the floor in rhythmic thuds," It's about facial expression, posture and cultural specific instantiations of universal phenomenological experiences."

Fleur blinked once at Moody in shock. She didn't understand all of those words and briefly wondered if he had made some of them up. He didn't seem the type.

"Delacour!" Fleur jumped in shock at suddenly being addressed - snapping out of her - _what did they call it? -_ profiling haze. "Get that wand out of those back pockets! Many witch and wizard have lost a buttcheek to that!" Fleur hastily complied. Moody nodded once in agreement before continuing on. "Now, Potter, I'm heading into town today. Auror Bones and Auror Black-Tonks are coming over for training soon. Make sure everybody is up and at 'em at oh-nine hundred. Delacour," His glass eye swept over Fleur appraisingly," Good luck."

Harry and Fleur watched him leave - not speaking until they couldn't hear his footsteps anymore.

" _Without subtitles,"_ Harry moaned again," It was horrible."

"Better than what I did," Ginny said as she waltzed in. She was - yet again - in a different outfit. Fleur was struggling to piece together her personality. Most people tended to have a certain style of clothing or a colour that they preferred and with it, Fleur could piece together their likes and dislikes...except for Ginny. The only thing Fleur knew for sure about her, was that the younger girl didn't like her much and would do anything to see her squirm like a worm on a hook.

She was in a striped polo shirt of maroon and dark blue today - tucked into a black pleated skirt. The look was completed by her heavy flying boots again. Ginny's ginger hair had been curled and was hanging at the small of her back. Fleur made a conscious effort not to try and analyse the girl - something told her that Ginny did not take kindly to being studied.

The girl in question sashayed to the cupboards, reaching up to the top most shelf and pulling off a box of cereal. She started to eat straight from the box, sitting herself on the island countertop, one leg crossed over the other. "I've been here for three years and the only thing that they've taught me is that psychopaths are good liars and Aurors are shit ones."

" 'Ave you met many?" Fleur couldn't help but ask.

"Aurors?" Ginny asked, feigning ignorance as she hopped off the island and retrieved a tub of ice cream from the freezer.

"Psychopa'zs," Fleur deadpanned.

Ginny sighed - long, drawn out and dramatic. Fleur got the idea that Ginny liked being dramatic - just to have the fun of playing something up. She shovelled a mouthful of ice cream in her mouth before brandishing her spoon like she would her wand. "The Department of Magical Law Enforcement takes us from school and hides us away in this nice little cottage, away from others in this nice little town. Do you really think that Amelia will let me tag along to Azkaban with her? Or let me go into the field where I could actually _do_ something with this odd little quirk of mine?!"

"The Aurors use cameras to record all interviews - they write down transcripts as well. Cold cases, mostly. For every case they give us - there are plenty that they've already solved. They're tests - to show the higher ups that we're as good as Amelia says that we are," Harry put in as he flicked his wand and his plate went drifting into the sink.

Fleur got the vibe that this was a sore topic for the both of them. She would have been annoyed too if she had been here as long as Ginny had and had nothing to show for it.

"Even when magic itself knows that you're right, they still want to know why we know, _how_ we know. They want to study us," Ginny laughed mirthlessly and Fleur filed something new into her dossier about Ginny - _she doesn't like authority,"_ They want to be us."

"Oh yes," A new voice joined the three of them and they all turned to see who it was. It was a tall lady. She had wild brown hair and steely grey eyes. Her wand was resting in a professional holster that hung at her hip - slightly hidden by her Auror issued robes. "Deep down, in my heart of hearts, all I want to be is Ginny Weasley."

Fleur watched the way the woman crossed the floor - almost effortlessly gliding. She was at home with herself here, Fleur surmised, as she watched the woman reach into one of the cabinets without looking and pull out a packet of chocolate. She seemed professional as well and clearly took pride in her job - her spotless robes seemed to support this.

"Amelia is running a simulation with Luna today," The woman said as she gestured to Harry and Ginny with one hand," She's left you two some files on her desk. Find Theo as well - she's given him work too. I'm going to catch Fleur up on what's going on." Harry just nodded, pushing himself up and leaving with a soft smile and a muttered 'Good luck'. Ginny - however - didn't move. If anything, she stretched herself out more - lounging on the island much like a cat did on a sofa. "It's not as amazing as being a jaded fifteen year old with a hate for authority, parental issues and an obsession with being rude but," The woman shrugged," Whatever."

Ginny huffed in annoyance but left, muttering under her breath.

"Zat was a low blow," Fleur said absentmindedly as she watched Ginny leave in the same direction as Harry went," Ginny does not seem to be ze type of person zat reacts well to being - how you English say - strong-armed."

"No," The woman laughed," She's not. Ginny and Theo didn't really have a choice in joining the program. Theo didn't seem to mind but she...Ginny still hasn't gotten over it."

"Hmm," Fleur said in a non-committal kind of way," I suppose."

"I'm Andromeda Black-Tonks, by the way," The woman said," I work in the Profiling division of the Auror department. I'll be your mentor while you're here. Are you ready?"

"For what?"

"Your first lesson."

* * *

"Hermione," Auror Black-Tonks said when both of the girls had settled at the table opposite her. The Auror was thumbing a few documents before placing them face down onto the table. "What can you tell Fleur about the MO of a killer? And what can you tell her about the signature of a killer?"

Their time in the kitchen together had been a little odd. Just as Fleur had studied - no, she had to get used to the terminology of what she was doing, _profiling -_ Andromeda, the Auror had been doing the same to her. Neither of them brought it up though and Fleur definitely didn't mention that Andromeda seemed like an obsessive woman. Working in the Auror department was a strict, regimented job and Fleur was inclined to believe that Andromeda would take out her frustrations by obsessing over one hobby - gardening, perhaps.

"MO - or modus operandi - is a Latin phrase," Hermione said curtly. She hadn't looked at Fleur at all since entering the study. "That is approximately translated as mode of operating. When in the context of murders and a killer then it refers to _how_ the person has been killed - what steps were taken before the kill. The MO refers to all of the necessary steps of a kill. You _have_ to select a victim, you _have_ to kill them somehow, you _have_ to choose a place to orchestrate the crime." Fleur was struck with how detached Hermione sounded. The younger girl's throat bobbed dangerously as she spoke, fist clenched once again.

The Auror nodded before using her wand to flip each picture.

Fleur almost threw up.

There were nine pictures on the table. Three rows of three neatly placed photos of horrific scenes. They weren't the usual wizarding photographs like in the living room. They didn't move at all but the quality of the photos were too well done to be captured by a Muggle camera. Each featured one glassy eyed person. The top three were of women, lifeless in their bathtubs. There were no outward injuries but their eyes were open - a dim green in the background that betrayed the way that they had been killed.

The bottom three were of two men and one woman. They were trussed up in a public place - face contorted in screams. Tortured.

The middle three were all men. There were injuries all over, parallel cuts all over their faces - blood still leaking from the wounds.

Fleur wanted to look away but knew that if she looked away then she wouldn't be able to look back again. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she did that. So, Fleur continued staring - trying to ignore the tightness of her throat.

"The signature of a killer," Andromeda picked up the slack when it was obvious that Hermione wasn't going to continue," Is all of the things not necessary in the murder. As a killer, you don't have to kiss them on the cheek or place them in the city centre." She didn't sound as detached as Hermione did. Andromeda may have worked in this field for years but it still got to her - probably the same way that it would always get to Fleur. "Nine bodies. Three of them were killed by one person, four of them by another and two of them were killed by two different people. As a Profiler, it's our job to work out who these people are, how they work, where they'll strike next."

Fleur looked at the pictures, swallowing thickly. Next to her, Hermione had gone still. Maybe her assumption earlier had been wrong, maybe this still affected Hermione. Maybe she was as horrified as Fleur felt. She had this concentrated look on her face as she studied the pictures. Her leg was bouncing again and Fleur filed that away for later. She knew that she was procrastinating but she wasn't sure how Andromeda wanted her to profile these killers without seeing them - how Fleur was even meant to go about this in the first place.

"These three," Hermione said suddenly. Her leg was still bouncing as she reached across the table and plucked three pictures from the rows and put them on the bottom," Are from the same UNSUB."

"Explain," Andromeda said curtly, watching Hermione with narrowed eyes - giving nothing away.

" _I_ saw her from across the street," Hermione did it again - shutting off entirely as she spoke," Maybe she looks like _my_ ex-girlfriend or _my_ daughter, maybe a sister or cousin. Either way she's _mine._ They look the same - or similar. Similar enough that when _I_ look at her, all _I_ can see is them." She drummed her wand on the first picture. It was from the first row - from the row of those killed using the Killing Curse. It was a red head, eyes open as she was lying in her own bathtub. "She took _me_ home with her," Hermione continued," And _I_ don't know what came over _me_. _I_ just got so angry - they look so similar - and _I_ just killed her...Then _I_ ran."

Hermione's leg bounced even more as she spoke - reaching for the two other pictures that she had plucked from the first and last row. "They looked similar again but this one," She tapped the picture of the one in the bathtub," Her buttons are crooked. Maybe she was changing, maybe _I_ broke in. _I_ killed her in her bathroom but _I_ chose to put her in the bathtub. _I_ chose to button up her shirt, to finish it. Maybe _I_ was regretful or guilty. Either way _I_ chose to do it. _I'm_ starting to get enjoyment out of it." She tapped the last picture. "This one was different. _I_ caught her off guard but she wasn't as drunk as _I_ thought. _I'm_ escalating - getting more reckless. She fought back, _I_ didn't think that she would fight _me_. _I_ overpowered her though and _I_ tortured her because of it. _I_ killed her the same way though and then _I_ trussed her up on the statue so everybody could see."

Andromeda nodded once and with a flick of her wand (and an impressive showing of non verbal magic) banished the three pictures that Hermione had chosen.

"Fleur," She said," You're next." The tone of voice left no room for argument and Fleur got the idea that Andromeda was somebody who was used to telling people what to do.

Fleur stared at the pictures, eyes gliding over them all. She reached forward and plucked out the two remaining pictures from the bottom row.

"What're you thinking?" Andromeda said," Take us through your line of reasoning."

"Different killers," Fleur said as she stared at the images. Hermione was looking at her now too, genuinely looking at her. "Zis one," She gestured to the older man," It looks like it was an in ze moment kind of zing. Ze killer did not mean to take it zat far, zey-"

"Don't say they," Hermione shifted slightly and rested her hand on Fleur's leg in an odd way to try and comfort her," Say _you_ or _I._ You're trying to get into their head, be them or talk to them. Saying 'they' just adds a level of detachment. 'Killer' also becomes UNSUB - it stands for unknown subject." 

Fleur almost shot back a _'like 'ow you are detached'_ but decided against it. Instead she said," Fine," Her eyes didn't stray from the picture," _You_ did not mean to take it zat far. _You_ did not mean for 'im to die. It just 'appened. _You_ did not zink zat 'e would be zat weak. But 'e is, 'e is weak and 'e dies. _You_ tie 'im up for everybody to see."

"Good," Andromeda's voice was low - like she was afraid of interrupting Fleur while she was in the zone, banishing the picture that she had just finished explaining," Anything else that you can tell me?"

Fleur's eyes glanced over the pictures again and she plucked out a few more. One was from the top row and the other two were from the middle row. She joined them with the other picture she had selected earlier. "Same killer," She said firmly, suddenly more confident than before. Perhaps all she needed was a little push out of her comfort zone. Maybe she was trying to impress the pretty girl sitting next to her who, for the first time, was genuinely looking at Fleur like she was another person.

"How?"

 _The first one was an accident - the woman murdered using the killing curse. You had lost control, maybe she argued with you, maybe she made you so mad that you just could not help yourself,_ Fleur thought as she looked at the picture before turning her attention to the others, _You liked how it felt though - you liked the rush of adrenaline when you had snuffed out her life. You liked it but you craved more. You needed more. You started to experiment before killing them. You did not want to use the killing curse again, it was beneath you and you are better than those common criminals. You used a slicing spell, a cutting spell for these three and the last one...you liked how it felt to torture him - you put him in a public so everybody can see how good you are at what you do._

Fleur said as much out loud and half hoped that she was wrong. This was more invasive than anything she had done before and it made her sick to the stomach when Andromeda nodded at her - a proud look on her face.

"It'll pass," Hermione said softly, picking up on how nauseous Fleur was feeling. "Just remember to breathe."

"Are you okay, Fleur?" Andromeda asked worriedly in spite of herself. Fleur glanced at her - mind still whirring, profiling on overdrive. Andromeda had wanted to test her, to see how quickly it all came to her. But she was worried if she had pushed the girl too far, too quickly.

"I will be fine," Her response was measured, drawn out as she took steadying breaths per Hermione's suggestion.

"Liar," Ginny's voice from behind seemed to shock them all.

"Fine," Fleur's mood took a nose dive at the girl's unexpected appearance," I am not fine now but I will be. 'Appy?"

"Delighted," Ginny purred, sitting herself on the table and inspecting the pictures with nothing more than amused curiosity. 

Andromeda cleared her throat as she banished the pictures right from Ginny's hand. She had adopted an expression similar to the one that Fleur's mother would wear when she was summoned to Beauxbatons after her daughter had been caught doing something that she shouldn't have. "We're still working, Ginny." It seemed that the animosity between Ginny and Andromeda went both ways.

"No," Ginny said as she glanced at Fleur's face to where Hermione's leg was bouncing," You're not." It wasn't obvious whether or not Ginny was calling out the Auror on a lie or if she was telling the woman to back the hell off. It also wasn't clear whether or not she was doing it for Fleur and Hermione's benefit. Andromeda fixed the girl with a harsh glare but relented.

"It seems that my lecture on organised and disorganised killers can wait until a later date," She stood up from the table," Moody will be home later - don't blow up the house. Fleur - good work today. Hermione...have a good day."

With those parting words, Andromeda stood up and left the study. She threw a lingering look over her shoulder, confusion evident on her face. Had Harry been in the room with them then he would probably be able to tell everybody the exact emotions that Andromeda was feeling. But he wasn't there and Andromeda left the room. Hermione watched her mentor leave before standing up herself. Fleur hadn't realised how close they had been until Hermione had moved away - her heat going with her.

"What the hell was that, Ginny?" Her tone was hard and she squared her shoulders.

"She had no right to pull that shit today Mione and you know it," Ginny hissed back," Today will always be a shit day for you and she knows it! Amelia knows it and so does Moody! They don't have the right to treat you like this!"

"Work is work, Ginny," Fleur got the idea that Hermione was repeating something that had been told to her time and time again," Do you honestly think that they don't have bad days and still come into work?! Don't be so stupid."

"I'm the stupid one?!" Ginny hissed, leaping from the desk with her wand in her hand. It was sparking at the tip and Fleur flinched - rising from her own seat. "Hermione...Hermione! I mean it! Stop baring the weight of everything and just talk to us!" 

Hermione ignored her, turning on her heel and stalking from the room. Ginny followed her out, continuing to talk loudly - berating her friend over something. Whatever today meant to Hermione, Ginny was mad that business had continued on as per usual.

Fleur sighed as she finally left the room as well. She could still hear Ginny's voice - lower now but still loud enough to pick up bits and pieces through the closed door of Hermione's bedroom. She ignored that wing of the cottage completely as she headed to the living room. Vaguely hearing the explosions from the basement, Fleur watched as Harry spread himself over the armchair while Theo sat neatly at one end of the sofa, hands caked in charcoal as he sketched away on a page in his sketchbook.

"Done already?" Harry asked when he noticed Fleur lingering in the doorway. He gave her a once over. "You're confused," He said in an almost instinctive way," And worried." He sighed. "I told Ginny not to interrupt. I told her - didn't I tell her Theo?"

"You did, Potter," Theo said as he didn't take his attention away from the set of guidelines he had been given for his drawing," But Ginny doesn't seem to have a concept of not making things worse."

" 'Ave you finished your jobs zen, 'Arry?" Fleur asked - slightly desperate to change the subject. She didn't want to talk about Ginny or about Hermione - who she was oddly intrigued by and couldn't tell whether or not it was attraction or because she was struggling to get a solid read on the girl.

Harry chuckled slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Not exactly," He admitted before inclining his head to the television," But Amelia can't fault me if I tell her that I took a break to read the emotions of the characters in my favourite show. Speaking of," He nodded at the doctor who was currently making up medical terms," His character is all professional but his emotions are saying 'why the hell are the producers making me say this? My character isn't a surgeon for heaven's sake!'" 

Fleur had to admit that watching television was somewhat grating to somebody like herself and Harry. While he was worrying over the conflicting emotions, Fleur couldn't help but notice that the reactions of the pretty brunette nurse didn't stay true to the personality that she was supposed to have - honestly, who thought that having her become a nurse when she fainted at the sight of blood would make a good plot point? It would probably be forgotten in an episode or two anyway.

"What is ze deal wiz 'Ermione and Ginny?" Fleur asked after two episodes of the shitty medical drama. Okay, maybe she had lied to herself earlier when she hadn't wanted to talk about either of them.

"How so?" Theo asked absentmindedly.

She gave him a look and he relented. "Hermione was the first in the program - plucked straight before she was set to start Hogwarts. Ginny came after her - also never having attended Hogwarts before. She got the letter but never actually turned up for classes. They're close. Ginny's the loud one, Hermione's the quiet one. For a while it was just them and then I turned up - start of third year. Harry was brought in at the end of third year. Luna was before you - six months back, give or take."

Fleur hummed at the information before turning back to the show. She couldn't imagine never having attended Beauxbatons, never having been taught by her professors. She knew that they were all to be tutored in magic by Moody when he had the chance but the thought of never having that formal, structure education hit her like one of those Muggle freight trains.

That night, Fleur tossed and turned in bed. Every time that she closed her eyes, all she could see were the pictures that Auror Black-Tonks had set out on the table for all to see. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could imagine was Gabrielle in one of the pictures or her father or her Maman. It was horrifying to think about and a few times Fleur had gotten up to dry heave in the en-suite bathroom that she and Luna shared with each other.

Trying to block out the pictures in her mind, Fleur imagined her new housemates instead. _Luna. Theo. Harry. Ginny. Hermione._ None of them were what Fleur had expected, none of them fit into the boxes that Fleur had already cast them in. Maybe that was a side effect of being a 'Natural'. In a half-asleep, half-awake state of mind, Fleur played a game that she had invented when she was younger during those dinner parties that her mother had arranged and all of those balls at Beauxbatons that she had to sit through.

She pulled of her own skin and put on somebody else's - Ginny's.

She started with the physical things. Height was first. Ginny was average height for her age, if slightly on the tall side but was still smaller than Fleur - whose Veela genes demand that she be tall and imposing. Their hair was different as well - Fleur's shorter than Ginny's and a beautiful blonde instead of Ginny's ginger. Instead of sleeping with it in a ponytail or braid, Ginny probably slept with it splayed around her pillow, completely uncontained and wild. Her fingernails weren't painted and were bitten down to the skin and when she had energy to burn, she picked at them.

Fleur turned her head - no, she turned Ginny's head - and surveyed Ginny's room in her mind. In her head, Ginny's room was messy - messier than Luna was. Clothes were strewn everywhere, dresses half on, half off of hangers. Andromeda had said earlier that Theo and Ginny hadn't had much choice in joining the program. Ginny would have used that forcefulness to get something out of it for herself. Broomsticks, perhaps? Yes, Fleur nodded to herself and watched as the highest grade of broomsticks possible appeared in the room. They were leaning up against the wall - perhaps the neatest thing in the room, possibly the only neat thing in the room.

Fleur turned Ginny's head again - watching the door. It was locked. Of course it was locked. Why was it locked? What was she - What am _I_ , Fleur corrected herself - keeping out. What was she scared of?

 _Scared?_ Fleur scoffed, her mind's voice sounding more and more like Ginny with every passing second. _I'm not scared of anything._

Fleur glanced back to the locked door, eyebrow raised in confusion before she finally drifted of to sleep.

Was she just making wild assumptions or had she profiled that?

* * *

_You've chosen well this time._

_She's much better than the woman you left in the hotel room._

_She wasn't a party girl this time nor was she one of those sluts that you had picked up on the streets before._

_This one is special and you know it._

_She's prettier than the ones before._

_Her eyes are a bit too dark but her hair is perfect so you can overlook the eyes._

_Besides, it's what's behind those eyes that truly mean something._

_They have the same look in them - you recognise that look, you miss that look._

_She's pretending to be a psychic - or maybe she does have a touch of the sight, you can never be too sure._

_Either way, you're in her sights._

_She looks at you, long and hard._

_She watches you as you cross towards the bar to order a drink._

_It will only be a matter of time before she joins you, before she asks for your name, if you want to dance with her._

_Maybe you will dance with her tonight._

_Maybe you will let her buy you a drink._

_Either way, the one thing that this so called 'seer' won't be able to see coming is you._


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Auror Black-Tonks, Fleur and Hermione take a trip to a nearby muggle shopping centre to profile people  
> Hermione and Fleur argue and bond...kind of

The next morning, Fleur could hardly stand to look at Ginny much less interact with the girl when she joined her at the kitchen island for breakfast. Fleur had been reading a letter that her little sister had sent via owl - once it had been checked rigorously by Moody before he handed it over. Much like the previous day, Ginny snooped through all of the cupboards, ate half of the cereal dry before diving into the ice cream stores. At least, Fleur thought bemusedly, Ginny was a creature of habit.

Harry had joined them as well, half asleep but still present and Theo was there too - making himself a toasted sandwich. Moody had disappeared - yet again. Luna had yet to make an appearance and Hermione didn't even seem to eat - or at least, didn't eat in the company of others. 

Fleur, avoiding looking at Ginny's piercing gaze, returned her eyes to the letter that Gabrielle had written about going unicorn riding with their grandmother. Fleur had never been that interested in unicorns, save for her own personal mount, but was glad that Gabrielle was having fun. She absentmindedly planned her response but didn't write it just yet. She still hadn't slept well last night and had ended up tossing and turning for a few hours after jolting awake after a nightmare. Fleur yawned and stretched slightly. 

She hadn't yet gotten changed out of her pyjamas - something she was glad that she hadn't returned to Beauxbatons and no longer had to wear a uniform. 

"Ginny," The stern but playful voice of Amelia Bones snapped the peaceful mood that had been created," What have I told you about sitting on the table?"

"Not to do it?" Ginny answered innocently, swinging her legs off of the island and sliding into Harry's lap like it was the most natural thing in the world. Theo had sat up straighter as well and Fleur had moved to look at the woman that had just arrived. Andromeda was behind her, dressed casually today with her hair in loose waves at her shoulders and weight shifted to her right side.

"Come on gang," Amelia continued," Get Luna up and at 'em and meet me in my office." Harry and Theo both groaned while Ginny did a dramatic shudder. Amelia rolled her eyes at them but shrugged good naturedly. Amelia was definitely the fun one, the more relaxed of the Aurors. Andromeda held Fleur's gaze, an eyebrow quirked in amusement. Whatever she had profiled about Fleur, seemed to be proving true.

"Fleur, go and get dressed. We leave in ten minutes."

With their orders, the Naturals dispersed quickly. Fleur was showered, dressed and by the front door with two and a half minutes to spare. Hermione was there as well, snuggling dressed in a pair of jeans, a running jacket and a scarf. She looked like she was heading out to go on a date or something...yeah...or something...

"I realised last night," Andromeda said as she strolled down the lane with the girls trailing behind her," That I pushed you too far, Fleur, for this early on. I only wanted to check what your raw ability is. I shouldn't have shown you the cold case pictures so soon - you obviously aren't ready for that. Which, is why I'm taking you girl's out. Grab a hand - we're going to a shopping centre."

They ended up in London, at one of those big shopping complexes and Fleur couldn't help but wonder if France had the same ones. She had never been to a Muggle shopping centre before and looked up at the shops in wonder. The three of them settled in the food court, sitting in a booth together - Hermione and Fleur squished up together with Andromeda watching them curiously.

Hermione had just returned from getting food a few minutes ago. It was a greasy burger from a fast food place that Fleur didn't recognise but she studied the way Hermione approached the counter - not bothering to look at the menu. She must have known it by heart - or at least knew what she wanted. It must have been a favourite place of Hermione's to go to because she ordered with confidence, handing over the Muggle money without a care in the world.

"Now," Andromeda said after she had finished watching the two girls in front of her," I find that Muggles are easier to profile then wizards and witches. So, girls, let's play a little game. Fleur - the man in the red shirt over by the chicken place - what can you tell me about him?"

She glanced over to where Andromeda had directed. Tall. Late thirties. Slight limp - an old injury probably from playing sports if the running shoes were anything to go by. The red shirt was plain, slightly tight on the chest area, frayed on the edges - bought a while ago, a normal choice for a day out to the shopping centre. She said as much out loud, not willing to meet Andromeda's daunting gaze. 

The man got his food and sat down a few tables away from the group, sitting himself next to similarly dressed men. " 'E does not like jalapeños," She said as she watched the dynamic. Andromeda had been right about what she had said earlier - it was easier to profile Muggles then wizards. Fleur didn't have to worry about what type of spells they were more inclined to use or how they would react to certain displays of magical power. "People who like jalapeños do not order zem on ze side of zeir chicken. 'E just does not want 'is friends to zink zat 'e is a wuss." Fleur chuckled lightly. "Only, 'e would not use ze word wuss."

She rose her eyes to meet Andromeda's gaze. The woman flicked her own eyes to the man, analysing him for herself before nodding - cool approval in her expression.

"Hermione," She said, eyes not leaving Fleur's," The woman in the green fleece. Tell me about her."

The game went on for a while, Fleur and Hermione taking turns in telling the Auror about the Muggles walking around the area. Soon enough though, Andromeda left the girls, sliding out of the booth with orders for the pair of them to continue the game while she got some shopping down. "Act like normal Muggles," Were her parting words of wisdom. 

The sentence had Hermione scoffing. Fleur sent her a confused look - only momentarily stunned by just how pretty Hermione's side profile was. She had on earrings. _Had she always had piercings?_ Fleur wondered. Hermione didn't seem the type, perhaps her parents had been those that got their children's ears pierced a few weeks after they were born. "Sorry," Hermione murmured," It's just...it's been a long time that the word 'normal' was directed at me."

Fleur felt the edges of her mouth tip upward. Hermione may have been adamant in not trying to interact with Fleur at home (odd, that she already considered Shell Cottage 'home') but, at least when it was just them and Andromeda, she wasn't as hostile. "I guess zat we are ze same," Fleur murmured before scolding herself inwardly. Why the hell had she said that? This was her in - her way to finally have a proper conversation with the girl! Why the hell was she screwing herself like this?!

"Welcome to the not normal club," Hermione said seriously although Fleur could see the disguised playfulness in her eyes," We have meetings on Wednesday night."

Fleur smiled properly then. Maybe she hadn't fucked up as bad as she thought. Opening her mouth to respond, Fleur stopped. A teenage boy broke off from his group of friends and waltzed over to the girls. His swagger reminded Fleur of the boys at Beauxbatons that thought that the world revolved around them just because their father's were rich. The boy looked more at home at a country club than a shopping centre in the dingy part of London. His skin was perfect and his hair was artfully mussed.

"Got room for one more?" He posed it like a question although both girls knew that it wasn't. Fleur would have found him cute if she wasn't so attracted to pretty girls (just like the one sitting next to her). The boy sat in the seat that Andromeda had vacated a few minutes ago. Fleur spied Country Club's friends over his shoulder, laughing and making obscene gestures.

Hermione didn't respond - although her leg did begin to start bouncing. Fleur noted that she did that a lot when she was uncomfortable or on edge. Was it a childhood quirk? Or an anxious tick? It could have gone either way and Fleur relished the distraction rather than looking at Country Club - who was giving both girls a leering smile that he, no doubt, thought was charming.

"I'm Aaron," He said with that same stupid smile. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flyer. "You girls look like you need a good time. Me and my mates," He titled his head back to his friends," Are having a party in two weeks. It would mean so much if such pretty ladies like you could come with. I am sure that us three could have lots of _fun_ together." He winked at them and Fleur _felt_ Hermione's mood take a nosedive, hands clenching and body shaking slightly. 

She had seen something similar before with a classmate of her's.

"Zank you," Fleur said, playing up the accent just a little bit and pushing out the tiniest bit of Thrall that she could manage without catching everybody in the surrounding area in it," We will be zere." She gave him a flirtatious smile and he walked away just as Hermione turned away sharply. "Calm down," Fleur murmured," 'E is gone. Control yourself." Fleur knew those were the wrong words the moment they had left her mouth because she clasped her hands over her lips as Hermione shoved past her - walking straight out of the food court and outside.

Fleur hurried after her.

"I am very calm," Hermione gritted out with clenched teeth," He just got on my nerves."

"You looked five seconds away from snapping," Fleur snapped back, her Veela instincts pushing herself to defend herself," It would not do if you were to-"

"If I were to what?!" Hermione hissed back," Go on!"

"If you were beat 'im up!" Fleur finished," You are not as subtle as you zink! You do not turn up to meals back 'ome, you stay away from everybody else in ze 'ouse." They were standing close now, Fleur towering a few inches above Hermione who didn't look intimidated in the slightest. "Because you are scared." Fleur wasn't sure where this was coming from, whether or not she had made this up to be spiteful or profiled this subconsciously. "You are scared zat you will snap and 'urt somebody. You are scared zat you might 'urt somebody so badly zat zey will 'ate you. You did not 'ave friends when you were younger and you 'ave convinced yourself zat you do not need zem - zat you do not need anybody but yourself."

"Go to hell," Hermione's voice was barely above a whisper as she stared at Fleur.

" 'Ermione..." Fleur blinked once before swallowing thickly. She knew that she shouldn't have done that - she shouldn't have brought up insecurities. It was never a good thing to do. "I..."

"I said go to hell!" Hermione spat," Don't presume to know me just because you're a profiler! Don't presume to know what it was like growing up!"

"Girls?" Andromeda asked as she approached, shopping bags in her arms," Is everything okay here?"

Neither Fleur nor Hermione looked at her.

"Just peachy," Hermione said.

"...Okay," Andromeda's eyes flicked between both girls in suspicion before offering them both the crook of her elbow," Come on then, girls. Dinner should be soon."

* * *

As it turns out, Mad-eye Moody was actually a good cook. Or, actually, the food that he made smelt good. After returning back to Shell Cottage, Hermione had made herself scarce and Andromeda had allowed Fleur to be left to her own devices. With this extra time, the French girl had penned her response to Gabrielle and sent if off back to France, throwing that stupid flyer from the boy onto her desk. She had received a few more notes from old school friends - wondering where she was - but Fleur resolved to answer them later.

What exactly was she supposed to say?

_Hi all, I've been offered a position by the British Ministry because of that thing I used to do at dinner. When I would tell you all about who was attracted to who based on their personalities and who would ask out who? Well, yeah, apparently that's a super useful skill and the British Ministry are going to use me to work on cold cases. Huh, funny right? P.S. There's this really pretty girl who can't decide if she genuinely likes me or not and we just had an argument over something silly because I can not take somebody arguing with me so she probably hates me now._

_Love, Fleur._

No - she definitely could not tell them that.

Instead, Fleur had retreated to her room. It was abandoned save for herself. Whatever Auror Bones had Luna doing, she hadn't completed it just yet. The walls were slightly thin and Fleur could hear the lyric less sounds of classical music from one of the rooms next door. She briefly wondered whose it was - Theo, definitely Theo. It probably helped him think - he seemed like the type of person who worked well with background noise.

Lying on her bed, Fleur gazed up at the ceiling. When she was younger, she had been scared of the dark and her father had conjured up a night sky on her ceiling and kept the illusion running until she fell asleep. He had done the same with Gabrielle. The thought of her family made Fleur feel a little homesick. She didn't know why. Perhaps Gabrielle's horribly misspelt letter had hit a chord.

"Did you know that seaweed can grow up to twelve inches a day?" Luna said in lieu of greeting when she walked into their shared room. Fleur drifted back into consciousness at the noise, blearily blinking and wondering just when she had fallen asleep.

"Okay?"

"I, for one," Luna said as she sat on the side of Fleur's bed," Do not understand why Mad-eye is cooking seaweed today. People are weird." 

"I suppose, Luna," Fleur acknowledged as she sat up, rubbing her eyes and stretching," I find zat people are ze weirdest creatures of zem all."

Luna brightened at that, smile stretching over her face. "I like you, Fleur," Luna said sincerely," I think that you're very nice and very genuine. Ginny keeps telling me not to be so nice to you." She paused. "I don't get Ginny sometimes. She's very nice but doesn't like Miss Bones of Miss Black-Tonks much. I wonder what they did to her." 

Fleur had an idea but didn't voice it. It didn't seem like Luna was genuinely asking Fleur's opinion on the matter - more like she was making conversation in her own, odd way. Besides, Fleur didn't really want to delve back into Ginny's psyche after what she had done last night. Had she still been at home or at Beauxbatons, she just knew that she wouldn't be second guessing herself as much as she was.

Oblivious to the mental leaps that Fleur was doing in her head, Luna rose from the bed and started digging through her desk, pulling out pieces of paper without a care in the world. "What did I come in for again?" She mused demurely," Oh yes! Theo wanted me to ask you if you could ask Hermione to come inside. Dinner will be ready soon - Hermione is on the beach."

The order only seemed to compute in Fleur's brain once she had already exited the doors leading to the beach. She couldn't back out now so, Fleur steeled herself and continued walking down the odd windy path that lead to the shore.

Hermione was sitting on a few large rocks that were covered in seaweed. She had her earphones resting on her shoulders - connected to the phone that had been stuffed into her pocket. Her eyes were open but slightly glazed over as she stared at the waves that were slowly coming in. The bitter wind cut through Fleur like a blade. It was cold in England, Fleur thought as she shakily lowered herself onto the rock next to Hermione's.

France was warmer.

"Dinner will be ready soon," She said softly - unsure whether or not she should address what had happened earlier.

Hermione didn't answer as she stared out over the shore.

"Luna said zat Moody is cooking seaweed?" Fleur started to talk again.

There was still no answer and Fleur glanced out at the sea, just to check whether or not there was something being overwhelming interesting. There was nothing there and Fleur was slightly annoyed. Hermione may have been attractive but Fleur wondered if she had to check her standards because Hermione didn't even seem to be interested in anything that she had to say. Maybe she was jealous? Or worried that Fleur would take her place as the profiler of the group. Maybe that was what had caused such an explosive reaction earlier. No, that wasn't quite right.

"It's not the same," Hermione said quietly as Fleur made to leave. She turned her head and Fleur was lost in sad, brown eyes. "What we did today - profiling Muggles. It's not the same as crawling into the skulls of killers and kidnappers. It's just..." Hermione sighed as she stood up, dusting off her jeans," It will ruin you. Andromeda tries to be supportive but she doesn't... _get it._ "

"I get it."

"Do you?"

"Yes," Fleur said, more confident than before," I do. Andromeda...she...she 'ad to go z'rough all of ze training, she 'ad to learn zis from ze beginning, non? She can turn it off, she does not automatically put people she meets into a box. She does not immediately guess people's breakfast orders or 'ow likely zey are to buy a certain shirt or ask a girl out. She does not get 'ow...difficult it is to constantly be in somebody's 'ead, all day, every day."

Hermione blinked at her, hand shooting out to grab Fleur's wrist. "I...I may have misjudged you, Miss Delacour," Hermione said - tone measured and calculated," And I apologise for that and for losing my cool earlier. I don't like being wrong or being profiled and...and you are nothing like I thought that you would be."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better," Fleur said, heart thumping. She fought the blush rising on her cheeks at Hermione's grip on her wrist. " I seemed to 'ave misjudged you as well and I am sorry for putting you into a box without your permission."

Hermione nodded at that - brow wrinkled in calculation.

"Come on," She said finally, dropping her hand," We should get inside - Moody doesn't like it if we're late for dinner."

Fleur followed Hermione into the house again, catching up to her on the path and walking side by side. Everybody was sat at the table together. Ginny was wedged between Harry - who had one of his hands laced with Ginny's, sitting on her lap - and Luna - who was rambling about different facts ("Did you know that there's a law that forbids somebody dying in the houses of parliament? One time, during one of the goblin wars, a wizarding soldier was dying and both sides stopped fighting and dragged him out so he could die outside of the building."). Theo was sat opposite her, listening on with an intrigued expression. His face was caked with charcoal again but he didn't seem to mind.

Next to Theo, was an empty seat and, on his right sat Moody. Moody was hunched over his food, wand in his hand in warning in case Ginny tried to pull some funny business again while his other hand held the spoon that he was using to shovel food into his mouth. On his right, sat Amelia who was deep in conversation with Andromeda.

"Nice to see that two have finally joined us," Ginny snarked when she saw the two walk in together," Hungry, Phlegm? It's nothing fancy - you won't like it. It's terribly British and your delicate French-"

She was cut off by a warning look from Amelia and sighed. Hermione rolled her eyes, letting out a huff of laughter before slipping into the empty seat next to Theo - leaving Fleur to do the same next to the last remaining seat on Luna's other side.

There's a wide selection of food in front of her. Fleur saw what Luna was talking about earlier - Moody had made some sort of seaweed and spaghetti dish. She shouldn't have been surprised - fish and sea food were obviously the easiest things to get around here but, still, Moody didn't look like the type of person to make seafood. Fleur glanced around the area. Amelia, though, judging by the amount of food piled on her plate, she was definitely the one that enjoyed this type of food the most.

Andromeda had been watching Fleur and Hermione enter together in confusion and Fleur was concerned as to why. She twirled a piece of spaghetti on her fork in contemplation as she watched Andromeda begin to scold Ginny about making a mess - to which the girl just stuck out her tongue and hissed something back. Fleur rolled her eyes. She knew that she was being stupid again.

In her head, it made sense that Andromeda was curious as to why Fleur and Hermione walked in together, especially from what she had stumbled across earlier. Every time that she saw the pair, Hermione was always cold and emotionless. Besides, if Hermione had been at Shell Cottage for as long as Fleur suspected she had been, it made sense that she and Andromeda were close and that the Auror would be worried for her young charge.

"Hey, Fleur," Harry said, cutting through Fleur's thoughts," D'you support a Quidditch team?"

"A French one, oui," Fleur replied," Ze Quiberon Quafflepunchers, of course."

"Mate," Harry scoffed," They're shit."

"Non! Zey are not!" Fleur hissed back good naturedly," You English just 'ave no class!" 

* * *

_You huff as you return to your apartment._

_Today wasn't as good as you wanted it to be._

_Work was terrible even though you wanted it to be fun._

_You change out of your work clothes and dump your bag on your table - next to the smiling face of the daughter that you no longer talk to._

_The package that you picked up on your break is set down next to it as well._

_It was a small thing that you could have picked up at the local drug store but ordered on the internet instead._

_It was always hit or miss at the drug store, whether or not they had the right shade that you like the best._

_You sigh and slump down on your armchair._

_You looked around your apartment and sigh again._

_Today wasn't the best and it's annoying you._

_You don't like the people that you work with - apart from one but that is neither here nor there._

_Today wasn't good at all and it annoys you._

_You glance around and your eyes settle on the only other picture in your entire house._

_It's of you...and your sisters._

_You don't like looking at it often but today is already shit so you allow yourself a peak._

_It's a picture of when you were younger - before everything went off the deep end._

_The four of you are smiling and laughing, pushing each other around._

_You're one of the middle siblings - there's two of you in the middle._

_You're two years older than the other middle sibling and, if you're being truthful, she's always gotten on your nerves as you got on her's._

_She and your older sister were thick as thieves even when you were young._

_You don't talk to either of them now._

_You don't miss them._

_You were never close to them anyways._

_You were always closer to your youngest sister._

_She's in the picture as well, smiling and trying to jump on picture you's back._

_She waves and you wave back._

_You don't talk to her much anymore either._

_You were always the odd sibling out even when you were younger._

_You sigh and pull on a jumper before leaving your apartment._

_You head to a club, intent on getting as drunk as possible._

_Today was a bad day but the night doesn't have to be._


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fleur relaxes into the routine of things.  
> Lessons are postponed and the group bond with each other over a game of Truth of Dare and a shitty party.  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed around their ages a bit so it fit better

Fleur fell into the routine in Shell Cottage much easier than she had at Beauxbatons. Her sleep schedule was no longer fucked up and she had grown used to Luna's snoring or the way that she would mumble statistics in her sleep. She got up at half seven, sat in bed until eight. She showered and got dressed before heading downstairs for breakfast - waking up Luna on her way out.

Sometimes, Fleur would make herself a sandwich or some cereal. Other times, if Moody had done the shopping correctly, she would heat up a croissant in the Muggle 'microwave' that she had grown adept at using. Theo would be eating there already and the two would discuss politics before Harry stumbled into the kitchen - still in his pyjamas. He would murmur a polite 'hello' and offer to cook bacon for the pair. Theo would always refuse and occasionally, Fleur would take him up on the offer. Either way, Harry would fry himself some bacon and put it onto two plates - one for him and one for when Luna dragged herself out of bed. 

Ginny would walk in next in her ever changing outfits that made Fleur wonder if she ever wore anything more than once. Ginny would open a new box of cereal - eat half of it dry - before raiding the ice cream rations. His favourite flavour seemed to be the raspberry ripple. Luna would appear next - way too chipper for eight forty in the morning.

Ever since their talk on the beach, Hermione and Fleur had reached a tenuous alliance that neither of them seemed to want to damage. As such, Hermione had taken to turning up in the kitchen at ten minutes to nine on the dot, each day, every day. She would open the fridge and pull out whatever selection of fruit had been put into it for the day and make herself a smoothie.

At nine, Amelia and Andromeda would arrive. Amelia would take away the other four while Andromeda would give Fleur and Hermione an activity to do. Sometimes it would be something like the first day. Other times, she would give them an article of clothing or a personal item and tell them to profile whoever owned it. Those were the ones that Fleur struggled with most. She was so used to meeting people and profiling them that way that working out what a person was like based on one item was akin to working backwards for her.

They would break for lunch and reconvene at the kitchen. Amelia would give her pupils homework (something that Andromeda only did occasionally) and then the two partners would leave. The group would eat whatever food that Harry (who was a surprisingly excellent cook) whipped up. They would settle in the living room to watch a show. Sometimes, the show would be interrupted by Ginny calling out a lie or Harry explaining what the actor is really thinking. Occasionally, Fleur or Hermione would throw in their own two knuts about how bad the characterisation was with Luna - who had taken being wedged between them on the sofa - throwing in some statistics. Theo would sit there mostly silent as he drew a younger version of the actor's on screen.

After lunch, Moody would appear from wherever he had disappeared to and give the pupils a crash course in whatever magic he thought was important at that point in time. Currently though, they were working on Charms - specifically the bird conjuring charm. Fleur was quite adept at the spell - her charmed doves soaring above her head and into the sky. Next to her, Harry was still struggling - only managing to conjure up a few puffs of feathers although that might have been because Ginny was proving to be quite the distraction as she continued to climb over some of the rocks. Luna was following after her - more inclined to find a Crumple Horned Snorkack (or something similar) then do the work that they had been set.

Theo was still trying - get further in the spell then Harry while Hermione...Hermione was sat on the porch. There was a book cracked open on her lap and a piece of parchment at her side. Fleur stared at the group who, under Moody's direction, was finally coming together again. "Granger!" The retired Auror yelled, not even sparing the girl a glance," Get into line! Alright," He huffed and stamped his staff onto the ground, causing sparks to ripple across the ground," Now, show me what you've learnt. Potter! No slouching! Weasley," His one fake eye focussed on the girl - who was slowly making her way over like she didn't have a care in the world - intently," At least try to pay attention."

Fleur smirked at that. She had dropped her act as the Queen of Cold at Beauxbatons (a façade that kept her safe from all of the clingy boys that were obsessed with her) but, occasionally, she felt her vindictive side bare its ugly head every once in a while when Ginny got into trouble. Unlike Hermione and Fleur's own tentative alliance, Ginny hadn't extended the hand of friendship just yet and Fleur was adamant that she would not be the one to initiate it.

"Granger!" Moody said again when Hermione slipped into line next to Theo. He held his hand out and Hermione placed her piece of parchment into it. The book - Fleur realised as she stared (adamantly telling herself that she was not staring) - was about Ancient Runes. She hadn't thought of what Hermione would like to do outside of lessons much - of everybody in the house, Fleur hadn't profiled Hermione as much as she had the others. But, what she had profiled, hadn't included reading. She kicked herself mentally for that because, as she snapped her eyes towards Moody again, blush adorning her pale features, when Hermione caught her gaze, she really did seem the type.

The demonstrations went fairly well after Hermione had handed in whatever work she had been assigned by Moody. Ginny produced some horrible sounding parrots that hurt Fleur's sensitive ears. They were horrific to look at as well but the amount of them betrayed just how many times Ginny had been taught this particular spell. It didn't surprise Fleur in the slightest, she had already been informed that Hermione and Ginny had been here the longest - Moody would have already taught them a few things. Next to her, Luna rattled off some statistics about the type of bird. Fleur smiled fondly at that. Luna was such a sweet girl (if a very socially inept one) and many a time in the past two weeks, Fleur had been sent asleep listening to Luna rattle off statistics that she found interesting - one night, she talked about Grindylows until two in the morning. 

Theo had managed to properly conjure a bird - a sleek eagle that managed to fly a few metres off the ground before disappearing into a puff of feathers. Moody watched on curiously before deigning Theo's attempt to be acceptable. He skipped past Luna completely - he knew that trying to get her to work while she was in the middle of spilling facts was a losing game. Harry went next. Try as he might though, he could only produce a few extra feathers and a squawking beak from the tip of his wand.

"We'll have to work on that Potter," Moody was gruffly and Fleur almost laughed at the horrified look on the boy's face. The smile on her face fell though when Moody turned to her and he inclined his head and waited.

"Avis," Fleur said curtly, lips curling up again when two doves shot out from her wand.

Moody nodded before hobbling back towards the house - throwing over his shoulder that he would be right back

She turned back to Hermione - if only for a glance - and found the girl watching her curiously. Fleur opened her mouth to start a conversation (about what, she was unsure) but Hermione seemed to have snapped back to reality and glanced away quickly, inserting herself into the tail end of whatever Theo and Luna were debating.

"You're worried - you always bite the inside of you cheek when you're worried."

Fleur nearly jumped in shocked as she turned to Harry - who was smiling at her like he knew something that she didn't and, being that he was an emotion reader, it was probably true.

"And you get little crow's feet on your eyes when you're concentrating," He continued on, following where her gaze had been," Oh, Hermione, huh? I can't blame you."

"Excuse me?" Fleur couldn't help the rise in her voice pitch. "I was-I did no- 'Ey! I do not get crow's feet! My eyes are perfectly fine!"

"Yeah," Harry smiled again, wiggling his eyebrows in a joking manner that Fleur had never seen before.

"Where was zis side of you earlier?" She couldn't stop her own smile appearing on her face.

"Probably buried under my deep struggle with this stupid charm!" Harry laughed, hand going through his hair - an energy burning quirk.

Fleur opened her mouth to respond with her own snark but decided against it when she saw Moody return from the cottage. Instead, they just shared an exasperated smile when Moody sent an electric jolt down his wand that hit Ginny in the back - causing the girl to yelp and nearly jump five feet into the air.

* * *

After lessons, Fleur and Luna returned to their room. Together, they sat on the carpet of their room. Luna was sat in front of Fleur, a pack of cards shuffled and placed in seven columns - all of them facedown. Fleur had asked what she was playing. "Solitare," Had been Luna's response.

" 'Ow can you play wiz all of ze cards facedown?"

"How can you play with some of them face up?"

Fleur had conceded then and went back to braiding Luna's hair. The texture and length vaguely reminded Fleur of Gabrielle's hair - the only difference being that Luna was a dirty blonde and Gabby's hair was platinum. They sat in silence of most of their time together. It was a comfortable silence though, like those times when you were so comfortable with your best friend that one of you could take a nap while the other did something else.

"Knock, knock," They both looked up when Ginny made her presence known - waltzing into the room without a care in the world. She had changed again. Fleur almost smiled - she had worn her Quidditch shirt again. At least the deception specialist did wear clothes more than once. The shorts though...those were definitely Harry's. Fleur had seen the boy wearing them last week - after accusingly pointing at him and demanding how he could possibly wear _shorts_ in the middle of winter.

"Yes Ginny?" Luna said, going back to her card game.

"Moody just went out with an old friend. We have the cottage to ourselves tonight." She smirked and Fleur immediately didn't like the next words that came out of her mouth. "Game's room. Fifteen minutes. Come prepared." With that ominous warning, Ginny left the room with a swing in her hips and a predatory grin on her mouth - moving down the hallway to make sure that everybody else knew what was going on.

"Any idea what we are going to get ourselves into?" Fleur asked as she finished off Luna's braid.

"If previous evidence holds true," Luna hummed for a moment," Trouble."

The game's room in Shell Cottage was the only room that came off of the basement and Fleur's first impression of it was...well, it was horrendously decorated. The walls were a light blue. There was a pool table and a Muggle gaming system that had obviously been put in for either Hermione or Harry's benefit (the only two of the group who had been raised by Muggles). A small set of gobstones sat on a shelf of well read books. Fleur wondered if this was where Hermione disappeared to when she wasn't in lessons.

In front of a roaring, green flamed fire place, was a silver chaise, a deep purple sofa and horrible red and green tartaned armchair. Luna and Fleur were the last to arrive. Ginny and Harry were lounging on the chaise together - Ginny's hands aimlessly roaming in Harry's messy hair. Theo was sitting in the armchair, his sketchbook perched on his lap. A few weeks ago, Fleur had managed to pluck up the courage to ask what was inside. She wasn't disappointed.

There were a few sketches of everybody. Five of a young Harry and one of a much older Harry and Ginny sitting on the porch of the Cottage together. There was one of a middle aged Luna surrounded by the creatures that she liked to talk about. One of Hermione in a library, face half covered by a book. There was even two of a very young Fleur - matching almost identically from pictures at the time.

Hermione was sat on the bearskin rug on the floor, facing the seating arrangements with her back to the flames.

Fleur was dragged over to sit on the horrible looking sofa with Luna next to her.

"Why have you gathered us here, Gin?" Harry asked, smiling contentedly.

Ginny just grinned - that predatory smirk that, just like the girl's dining habits, were one of the only stable parts of her character. "Truth or dare," She said smugly," And I demand that you can't choose truth two times in a row," She leaned forward scandalously and flashed them all a smile," Any objections?" The atmosphere in the room changed immediately and Fleur nearly huffed at how Ginny got an unfair advantage due to her ability.

Hermione put her hand up and Ginny scoffed. "You don't count."

"You asked for objections and I-"

"No, you don't get an objection," Ginny glanced at everybody else," Anybody else?"

"I am familiar with the rules of the game," Luna said," But I am unaware of how to win."

"You do not win," Fleur said as Theo snorted and Harry let out a bark of laughter," Zere is no winner or loser in truz or dare."

"Is that an objection?" Ginny was grinning again.

Fleur flicked her eyes towards Hermione - who was staring at the side of her face with an expression that practically screamed 'yes, make an objection'. _You don't really want to play,_ Fleur thought to herself, shocked at how easily she slipped into the profiling state of mind even when she did not mean to, _You've had bad experiences of this game in the past and you want me to object - only because you know that I'm the only one that will. You don't want to reveal something about yourself. Not just to me but to Harry and Luna as well. They don't know you as well as they think they do._ To Ginny, Fleur said," Non, no objection from me. Who will start?"

"I will," Luna volunteered.

"Okay," Ginny winked," Truth or dare, Luna?"

"That wasn't what I meant."

"Truth. Or. Dare?"

Fleur tried to work out the flip in attitude. Truly, she was getting quite sick of Ginny's moods changing at the drop of a hat. The girl seemed fond of Luna. Or, as fond as somebody who was adamant about changing their views every hour could be. Apparently though, Fleur thought sourly as she met the amused eyes of the resident lie detector, that didn't matter in a game of truth or dare.

"Truth."

In a normal game, Truth would have been the easy option. Fleur had constantly chosen Truth during the games in her dorm back at Beauxbatons. If the question was too personal or embarrassing then Fleur would just lie her way out. However, with Ginny in the room, that was practically impossible. It was made even worse when the girl smirked in challenge. Fleur knew she should have chosen to object earlier.

"Do you know who your mother is?" 

Ginny's question took Fleur completely off guard. She had expected something different, something about a deep, dark secret.

Luna, unfazed, just shrugged. "Yes," She said," I do."

"A swing and a miss," Theo said under his breath and Fleur grinned at him while Ginny sent him a dirty look.

"Your turn, Luna," Ginny said instead of retaliating. Fleur's eyes narrowed at that. Something just wasn't adding up with Ginny's sudden swerve in demeanour. _You're setting something up,_ she thought, _This was just the beginning. The rule about choosing truth was just to throw everybody off of your scent. You're planning something._

"Fleur," Luna turned," Truth or dare."

She tried to work out what kind of dare Luna would choose but came up with a blank.

"Statistically," Luna continued on helpfully," The most common dares among teenagers include eating something not meant to be eaten, hexing yourself with unsavoury spells, kissing another player, licking something unsanitary and nudity."

"Truz'."

Luna was silent for a minute or two. "How many people do you love?"

The question took Fleur completely off guard but it seemed harmless enough. Fleur relaxed into the back of the sofa and realised the problem. The Veela girl looked up in alarm and glanced towards Luna. Their eyes met and Fleur got the distinct feeling that Luna wasn't asking because she thought that Fleur's answer would be funny or amusing to listen to. Luna wanted to know because she needed data to compare to her own experiences.

"Love?" Fleur repeated. Her eyes flicked over the room. Harry had sat up - obviously seeing something in her expression that betrayed what she was feeling. "Love 'ow?" If it was romantical love then Fleur already knew her answer. She already knew the answer to that. She hadn't been in love with anybody before and her growing attraction to Hermione didn't count - she was still shocked as to how no matter how cold the girl seemed, the stronger it drew her in.

"Total," Luna said confidently," Across romantic, familial and all other denominations."

Fleur settled back into her contemplation. Five sounded like a safe bet. That was what other people would say, right? What normal people would say? Too many to count sounded better. She had lots of cousins and aunts - Veela naturally had big families...but she wasn't close at all with her full Veela cousins. Besides, Ginny was watching her intently, too still to have passing intrigue.

Mentally, Fleur listed off all the people she could think of. Gabrielle - that was a no brainer. She loved her sister more than life itself. Gabby was a pure soul, a spitfire that couldn't be contained. Fleur thought of her mother. She was meant to love her mother, right? Even if that mother was barely around, constantly travelling around the world and working for different ministries - only coming home for important holidays like Yule and her wedding anniversary. Fleur's thoughts flicked to her father and recoiled instantly. She certainly didn't love him.

"One," She managed to get out after a few more moments of contemplation," One person." She glanced at Ginny - half hoping that the girl would call her out on a lie. That her family wasn't so fractured and confusing that the only person that she truly loved was the little sister that used to stick to her like glue - that she wasn't removed from the kind of love that her family felt for her.

Brown eyes held blue for a moment too long and Ginny shrugged, leaning back on the chaise. "Your turn, Phlegm."

Fleur tried to remember why she hadn't objected earlier.

"Ginny," Fleur bit out - feeling a tiny bit vindictive," Truz' or dare."

Ginny's eyes flashed dangerously. She had the advantage - she was the only one that could lie and get away with it.

"Dare."

Fleur's eyes narrowed in annoyance (Harry would say that they held the slightest bit of fondness). _Of course you don't want me rummaging around in your head,_ she thought.

"Hit me with your best shot, _Phlegm."_

That stupid nickname had Fleur reeling in annoyance. She had the feeling that Ginny was angling for something a little bit dangerous, something that would get her blood pumping like flying a broomstick as she stood on it or diving off the cliff nearby. Something that Amelia and Moody and Andromeda would disapprove of.

"I dare you to," Her words were measured and drawn out, hoping that an answer would present itself,"...Waltz...by yourself."

Even she wasn't sure where that had come from.

"Huh?" Ginny blinked, mouth hanging open.

"Waltz," Fleur repeated," By yourself." She pointed to the empty spot in front of Hermione. "Right zere. Dance."

Theo started to crack up, as did Harry. Even Hermione bit back a smile - something that had Fleur's heart skipping a beat.

"The original form of the waltz was first used by thirteenth century wizarding peasants in Germany," Luna jumped in as soon as she could to provide her own odd motivation," But it was soon adopted by Muggles."

Ginny sighed dramatically, rising from the chaise and cracking her neck. For added effect, Theo waved his wand and traditional music filled the room. To be fair, Ginny did better than Fleur expected - raising her arms like she was dancing with a partner, moving around the small space provided almost elegantly. Almost, being the key word. She was still slightly clunky in her movement and tripped once or twice on the rug.

By the time her odd little display was over, Harry and Theo were roaring with laughter. Luna was clapping along enthusiastically to the music. Fleur caught Hermione's gaze. The younger girl tipped her head in approval at the choice in dare, the smallest of smiles quirking her lips upwards.

Ginny returned to her seat - ending her display with an odd little curtesy. Harry gave her a short kiss that had Hermione drenching him with water from her wand. Fleur burst into laughter at that. It was one of the only times that Fleur had seen Hermione act so comfortable - act as much of a teenager as the rest of them. Harry didn't look apologetic in the slightest but did pull away from a pouting Ginny.

"Theo," She said," Truth or dare?"

Fleur almost felt sorry for the boy - choose Truth and lay a secret bare in front of Ginny, who knew if the answer was a lie, or choose Dare and get stuck with doing something, no doubt, very dangerous.

"Truth?"

Ginny grinned and her eyes flicked around the room. "Is the man named on your birth certificate your real father?"

For a few brief seconds, irritation and vulnerability flashed in Theo's eyes and he glared daggers at Ginny - who just quirked an eyebrow in amusement.

"No," He gritted out - more cold than Fleur had ever heard before," And I would like it, if you didn't bring up my father again."

The pair stared at each other for a few more seconds - silent and tense - before Ginny leaned back and shrugged, hands up in surrender.

"Potter," Theo said primly, irritation still leaking from every pore," Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to," Theo hummed for a moment," Hex...Hermione."

Harry paled and Ginny grinned, patting him on the back while she started to cry dramatically at the drop of a hat.

 _You can cry on command,_ Fleur thought, _And you change how you act all the time - more so than anybody else who had a passion for acting._ _You probably sleep with your door locked as well, keeping something out - something that you're scared of. You're running from something, or have just finished running. Did you need to pretend to be something else before you ran? Did you need to get sympathy quickly?_

Fleur was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost missed the mutter of a hex under Harry's breath. A jet of yellow flashed from his wand only to harmlessly bounce back on Hermione's silently erected shield. It smacked Harry right in the face - sending him tumbling back over the chaise.

After Harry had recovered, the game went on for a few more rounds without incident. On one notable round, Fleur's mind went back to the game she had played a few weeks ago and asked Ginny if she was a neat person or messy person.

"Really, Phlegm?!" Ginny had grown a tad more vindictive as the game went on," That's your question?"

"Zat is my question," Fleur confirmed.

"Messy," Ginny had replied with a wink in Harry's direction," In every sense of the word. Now then, Phlegm - truth or dare?"

"Dare," Fleur decided against telling Ginny that she couldn't just shoot back at Fleur.

"Kiss Hermione."

"Ginny!" Hermione hissed. She hadn't moved from her position on the floor since the start of the game and nobody had asked her anything yet. The girl had cracked open a book around half an hour ago and hadn't talked apart from the occasional snicker.

"Come off it Mione!" Ginny grinned," Phlegm - kiss her!"

Fleur didn't know what was worse, the object of her growing crush objecting to being kissed by her or the realisation that she, Fleur Delacour, a quarter-Veela, didn't object to the idea of kissing Hermione. Or perhaps, it was the look of thunder on Theo's face as he glared at Ginny.

Fleur had been kissed before, countless times in her seventeen years of life but never once, had she been truly attracted to the people that had kissed her. Now though, she understood what her admirers felt like when she rejected them. She thought back to Andromeda's lesson on the first day, of Hermione's hand on her leg...

Ginny was watching her expectantly. Harry was searching Hermione's face for _something_ and Fleur could practically see Theo's desire to turn away. Even Luna, poor, socially confused Luna was watching in wonder as Fleur rose gracefully from the sofa and stood in front of where Hermione was sitting.

She didn't have to do this.

She had a choice - Fleur could say no to this.

Hermione looked up at her and, for a split second, Fleur saw something other than deadly neutrality in her large brown eyes. Her features softened a fraction and her lips parted for a moment - like there was something that she wanted to say. Fleur sunk to her knees and put one hand on Hermione's cheek. Her skin was smooth under the palm of Fleur's hand as she brushed her thumb carefully across it and Fleur slowly let their lips brush against each other. Their mouths only touched for a second but it had a blush rising on her delicate features.

Fleur pulled away but was unable to force her gaze from Hermione's lips as she did so. For a few seconds, they just stayed there, staring at each other - Hermione sitting on the rug and Fleur kneeling in front of her.

"I found a flyer on Fleur's desk for a party tonight," Ginny said, drawing attention back to her, sounding pretty darned satisfied with herself," And we are all going to said party."

The uproar that started after Ginny's proclamation seemed to be exactly what the girl had expected.

* * *

Muggle parties, Fleur decided as she lingered at the back of the university hall of residence, were much better than wizarding ones. At Beauxbatons, the parties all had to be on the down low and were broken up by teachers as soon as they were found. Muggle parties - however - didn't seem to care about being quiet. She was standing with Harry at the back of the room - neither of them seemed to like the crowded space of the dance floor. Each of them nursed a bottle of horrible tasting beer.

Over by the kitchen, Theo had been ambushed by a group of giggling girls when he had left in search of a non-alcoholic beverage. Luna was with a group of athletic boys that she was absolutely thrashing in a game of beer pong using angles or something. Upon arrival, fresh out of a floo point a few streets away, Ginny had pressed a kiss to Harry's lips before linking her arms with Hermione and dragging the reluctant girl over to the dance floor.

"You are not a jealous person, oui?" Fleur asked unexpectedly as she watched Hermione dance with a boy. She hadn't wanted to dance originally but a few beers and several shots of extremely strong vodka in and she had loosened up entirely. Fleur definitely got the feeling though, that Hermione was only slightly tipsy. She wondered how much Hermione could drink without getting entirely wasted.

"Over Gin?" Harry inquired, taking a sip of his beer before making a face and putting the drink down," Not really." He had a fond smile on his face. "Ginny is like a storm - big and reckless and Merlin help that sad prat that orders her to do something but, at the end of the day, I know that she would never cheat."

"You love 'er," Fleur said.

She could see Harry blush even in the dim lighting. "Is-Is it that obvious?"

"Oui," Fleur raised the beer bottle to her lips before flashing a contemplative look at the boy next to her," Is it legal for me to drink zis...zis sad excuse for alcohol?"

"How old are you? Seventeen?" Harry laughed," Don't sweat it, Fleur. Ginny and Hermione have been sneaking alcohol into the house since before I turned up, nobody really cares - least of all at a party."

"Experience in zat regard?" Fleur teased," Does Ginny do zis often? Drag you all to random stranger's parties?"

"You were the one that had the flyer."

"I enjoy it when you are - what is ze word? - sassy? Oui, sassy. I enjoy it when you are sassy, 'Arry but I must say, as ze only one of us zat is seventeen - I can not condone you drinking."

Harry laughed at the teasing. "Hermione's seventeen," He said.

"What?" Fleur asked," But I zought-"

"Physically," Harry said," She's sixteen but, a few years back, Amelia and Andromeda issued her a time turner. It messed with her age a bit."

"Merlin," Theo breathed out as he stumbled back to Fleur and Harry a few seconds later," I had no idea that Muggle girls were so clingy!" He groaned loudly but Fleur noticed that he had been successful in his quest to get water. 

"You should watch ze men," Fleur said with a grin, lifting the bottle to her lips before lowering it again in disgust - she had to stop doing that," Zey are...worse - even worse when zey are caught in ze Zrall."

Harry grinned and nudged her with a grin. "Don't sweat it, Fleur," He said, wiggling his eyebrows like a crazy person," We'll protect you." Harry puffed out his chest and Theo pretended to flex his arm muscles.

"Oh," Fleur said mockingly," I feel safer already."

Her eyes flicked back to the dancefloor. Hermione had changed her dance partner from an athletic looking boy to a beautiful blonde girl who was slightly taller than she was. They were dancing very close together, practically breathing air from each other's mouths.

"Something wrong, Fleur?" Theo asked when he followed her unguarded, open mouthed staring.

"Nozing," She said, still slightly dazed as she watched Hermione swing her hips and laugh at something her dance partner had said," I just...I zought zat 'Ermione was dancing wiz a boy a moment ago."

"Oh, that?" Theo shrugged and sipped on his water," Hermione's bisexual - out and proud, you should check her room sometime - and, apparently, uni students dig whatever mysterious stranger thing she has going. I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of people danced with her tonight."

Of all of the things Fleur had profiled about Hermione Granger, she hadn't given thought to what her sexuality was - hadn't allowed herself to give hope to herself in case she was wrong. But here it was, straight from somebody's mouth.

Hermione Granger was bisexual and Fleur felt herself falling even further.

* * *

_You look at the body in front of you._

_There's a rush of something inside of you - Irritation? Anger, maybe?_

_It's supposed to be euphoric - sublime._

_It's supposed to cause you so much joy that you laugh and scream and cry because it just feels so good._

_But, through it all, you're supposed to decide._

_You're supposed to decide when it ends._

_She wasn't supposed to rush you._

_She shouldn't be dead yet, but she is._

_She was supposed to be perfect, but she isn't._

_You were supposed to be perfect, but you aren't._

_She didn't scream enough at first but then she screamed too much._

_She called you names._

_Names that your sisters used to call you._

_You got angry after that - so angry._

_It was over too fast, too soon and Merlin damn it, it wasn't your fault._

_It was her fault._

_It was all her fault._

_You're better than this._

_You carve the symbols into her back - carefully moving her perfect hair out of the way._

_Merlin damn it - this was meant to be your treat._

_It was meant to take away all of the stress from your job._

_But it didn't._

_It just made it worse._

_You drive your knife into her stomach as you roll her over._

_You imagine **her** as you do it - you imagine both of them._

_She's not perfect._

_She's not beautiful._

_She's nothing - you're nothing._

_But you won't stay nothing for long._


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione and Fleur bond over their sexualities  
> Andromeda and Amelia leave to take a case  
> Fleur learns a bit of Harry's backstory and Ginny offers her some advice

Come Monday morning, something was off and everybody in the house knew it. Moody clunked around the cottage, cleaning and muttering under his breath. By the time that nine o'clock rolled around, Amelia and Andromeda still hadn't arrived. Then, nine thirty passed and then ten. Time drained on and the Naturals - minus Hermione - had all gathered in the living room.

Harry kept glancing towards the door in confusion while Theo tried to busy himself with sketching the scene in front of him but gave up soon after - scribbling out the creation in abject annoyance. Luna rattled off statistics less than usual and even Ginny seemed to be put out. Fleur hummed quietly - her Thrall leaked out slightly in her worry. She jumped when the front door was flung open with force.

Amelia and Andromeda walked in. They tried to look like it was business as usual but Fleur noted how their feet seemed to drag and their eyes had dark circles under them.

"You're late," Theo remarked but everybody could hear the relief in his voice.

"We got caught up," Andromeda said apologetically," We were in a meeting." 

The scrunched up look on Ginny's face told Fleur otherwise but neither girl mentioned it. Ginny, because she liked having the upper hand, a trump card that she could pull out later for blackmail, and Fleur because she was sure there was a reason for the little white lie that Andromeda told. If the Aurors wanted the group to know then they would have told them.

"Fleur," Andromeda continued," Could you go and fetch Hermione? And tell her to bring the book on Magical Victimology."

Fleur nodded - more than happy to get away from the suffocating tension in the living room. Ginny's scrunched up face had turned into one of annoyance - lip curled upwards in a vicious grimace with hands already playing with her wand. Harry also looked like he wanted to ask something and even Theo - passive Theo - looked quite put out. Luna, of course, could not tell there was tension in the room as she continued to play a game of Devil's Grip by herself.

Fleur hesitated slightly outside of Hermione's door - the girl hadn't turned up for breakfast this morning

But Fleur straightened her back in preparation and knocked.

The door was opened a few seconds after the first knock. Hermione stood in the doorway, rubbing her eyes blearily and blinking at the change in light. "Yes?" Her voice was thick with sleep, words slightly slurred. "What's up?" She was in a pair of sleep shorts and another ratty old band t-shirt.

"Er...I..." Fleur should have known that she wouldn't have gotten through the day without one gay panic. "Andromeda is 'ere. She said to meet 'er in ze study and to bring ze book on Magical Victimology?"

"Oh," Hermione coughed awkwardly," Yeah, right. Well, you better come on in - I may take a while."

Hermione's room was pretty much what Fleur expected to be. She already knew that the girl was an avid reader (and may or may not have left out a few of her favourite books on the weekend just to see Hermione pick it up and read a few chapters when she thought that nobody was looking) and it was no surprise that almost every free space was covered in parchment or books. Her wand was sitting atop her desk, marking her page of an ancient runes book that the girl had started when she was getting over her semi-hangover on Saturday morning - Fleur may or may not have secretly set out a hangover cure potion out especially for her to find.

Apart from that though, her room was spotless.

Sitting on the desk, nestled amongst stacks of books were picture frames. There was one of Hermione and Ginny when they were much younger. Picture Ginny was leaning against the wooden post, talking animatedly to an amused but tired looking picture Hermione. Next to that picture, was a Muggle one. Another one with Hermione - but with her parents this time. She got her her wild curly hair from her mother but her eyes were definitely from her father.

Fleur's eyes roamed over the room again before settling on the massive Bisexual flag that was pride of place pinned on the wall next to Hermione's bed. Theo had told her that it was there but it was different to being told something and actually seeing it in person.

Hermione was muttering under her breath as she rummaged through piles of books. "Ah!" She said finally," There it is!" She turned around with the book in her hand and found Fleur staring at the flag.

"What?!" She demanded, immediately jumping onto the defensive. "D'you have a problem with it?"

"Non, non," Fleur was quick to deny it," Just shocked."

"Why?" Fleur watched as Hermione relaxed a fraction, hostile posture melting into curiosity. 

"I am a lesbian, 'Ermione." There, it was said. "If anyzing, I am shocked zat zere is somebody else in zis 'ouse zat 'as good taste in partners."

There was a short bark of laughter and Fleur's heart skipped a beat when Hermione beamed at her.

"You continue to surprise me, Fleur Delacour."

" 'Ow so?"

"I think that we may have a lot more in common than just our good taste in romantic partners."

* * *

When the pair of them finally arrived in the study, Andromeda was perched on the desk, arms crossed over her chest as she read a letter than had recently arrived by owl. "Amelia and I got given a case on Thursday," She said as both of her students slumped into their seats," Three bodies already and the killer is escalating." She ran her hand through hair that only looked haphazardly brushed. "It reminded me that the killer is only one half of the equation. Hermione, what do you remember about Victimology?"

Hermione tapped her finger on the desk a few times, staring holes into the table. The previous, odd bonding over their shared taste in women, was forgotten and Fleur immediately recognised when her partner was in work mode. "Most killers have a type," She said," Occasionally, it's a physical type. Other times it may be more convenient to kill a hiker because nobody will report them missing for a few days or students because it's easy to get a hold of their class schedules. Occasionally, a UNSUB will kill somebody who has creature blood in them due to their own prejudices."

Andromeda nodded. "Sometimes, the victims may be a stand in for somebody else in the killer's life. Some people like to kill their first girlfriend or wife or mother over and over again. Some people like to kill those inflicted with Lycanthropy because it feels like they're a hunter"

"Another thing victimology tells us," Hermione continued on, her eyes flicking to Andromeda for approval before settling on Fleur," Is how the victim would have reacted to being attacked or abducted. If you're a killer," She paused, thinking of the right words to express what she was talking about," There's a...give-and-take between you and the people you kill. You choose them. You trap them. Maybe they fight, maybe they don't. Maybe they run. Some try to talk you out of it, some say things that set you off. Either way, whatever they do, you react."

Fleur nodded, soaking in the information but not willing to look away from Hermione. 

"We don't have the luxury of knowing every last detail about a killer's personality," Andromeda cut in, eyes flicking between the two girls," But Victimology can allow us to construct a profile of our killer. How old they are. Intelligence. Education."

Fleur soaked that in as well, finally shifting her attention to the table where Andromeda had placed three pictures down. Pictures of victims. Fleur had seen so many of them now that the pit in her stomach was already bearable.

"Fleur?"

"Oui?"

"Yes what?"

Fleur glanced back to her mentor and gave her a sheepish smile. "Sorry," She said," Could you repeat what you just said?"

Andromeda gave her a long, appraising look but relented. "I said that you go into the first woman's house and find out that she has a pet fish and is working three jobs to pay the bills. Woman two is a local barista and her whole apartment is messy. The third woman is the only one that doesn't have defensive wounds. She's a list maker and colour codes her clothes. The killer kept their victims alive for a few days but she was killed by a strong blow to the gut on the day she was taken. Her jacket was on crooked when they found her."

Fleur put herself in the killer's head, imagining him taking the women - playing with them, taunting them. He enjoyed it and Fleur wondered why he let the last one off so easily.

_Because she didn't fight back._

"Woman zree was killed in a fit of rage," Fleur's voice didn't sound like her own - it sounded as detached as Hermione's was in the first day," But ze ozzer women were killed for fun."

The interaction between the killer and woman three would have been one of control but she was just enough of a control freak to disrupt that. That was why he was angry when he had killed her.

"And?" Andromeda prompted.

Fleur drew a blank.

"He put the jacket on her," Hermione cut in," If she had put the jacket on herself then it wouldn't have been crooked."

The observation had Fleur's mind whirring. If he had killed her in a rage, why would he have dressed her afterward? Fleur could understand if he had undressed her - the final humiliation, the last act of control.

 _You know her,_ Fleur realised.

"The first two victims were random," Andromeda met Fleur's eyes and it was like the Auror had read her mind," We assumed that the third woman was the same. We were wrong." Her eyes went flat. "That's why you need both sides of the galleon. Checks and balances, killers and victims. You will always be wrong about something. What if it's a personal connection? What if its a she and not a he? What's if they're older than you thought? Two killers working together? What if the killer is just a kid?"

It struck Fleur quickly that they weren't talking about the cold case anymore. They were talking about the doubts plaguing Andromeda currently, the assumptions she was making on her current case. They were talking about the killer that Andromeda and Amelia hadn't been able to catch.

"Ninety percent of all serial killers are male and the vast majority of them are Caucasian," Just like how Ginny would announce her presence with an annoying 'knock, knock', Luna announced her own with facts," Miss Amelia wants to talk to you. She told me to tell you that they've just found body number four."

Andromeda straightened up immediately. In a second, her bag had been summoned to her hand and the pictures on the table had been banished from sight. Theo and Harry had followed Luna into the room with Amelia on their heels.

"Somebody has a case," Harry's voice was blunt but Fleur could detect the desire in it - to go with them, to finally use his skills out in the field.

"Somebody has to leave," Amelia's tone was clipped, her casual mask slipped off and she donned her professional one.

"Same profile?" Andromeda asked, ignoring the teenagers in the room.

Amelia gave her a brisk nod. "Squib, off the skirts of Sidcup. Matches our killer's MO."

They shared a non verbal communication before Amelia continued speaking," I've left work for Theo, Luna, Ginny and Harry. Do you have something for Fleur and Hermione?"

"Not a cold case," Andromeda decided," Sorry Fleur. You've got a good amount of raw talent but you've spent too much time in the real world and not enough time in ours. You focus too much on the big picture and not enough on the details."

"She can take anything you throw at her," Hermione said, quietly but loud enough that everybody heard.

Andromeda considered it for a moment. "Second blue binder, row nine and the twelfth binder in row six."

Fleur hardly heard her, more focussed on the way that Hermione was smiling at her with an encouraging nod.

* * *

On Tuesday morning, Fleur huffed as she shuffled into the kitchen. No longer having to be awake at a certain time, seriously messed with Fleur's internal body clock. It seemed though, that she wasn't the only one that had completely discarded the usual routine. When she had woken up, she had noticed Theo and Harry soaring on their brooms above the beach - playing a one vs one Quidditch match. Luna was gone from her bed as well but Fleur put that down to the previous night when Harry had allowed Luna a cup of coffee and she had completely passed out after coming down from her caffeine high.

Digging around in the freezer, Fleur scowled as she turned back around, empty handed. "We are out of ice cream."

Ginny was sitting on the countertop, twirling a strand of ginger hair around on her finger. "I know."

"I blame you."

"I know," Ginny shrugged before crossing the space between them," But, forgive me if I'm wrong, Phlegm, but you don't just seem to be blaming me about our sudden lack of ice cream. Care to share?"

Fleur narrowed her eyes and shoved her way passed. "I do not 'ave time for zis," She muttered as she left for the study," I 'ave work to do."

**Riddle, Tom**

**3rd-5th November, 1981**

**Interrogation Room Nine, Azkaban Prison**

Tom Riddle. It sounded like a normal - albeit horribly boring and terribly English - name. Gingerly, Fleur flipped to the transcript. The bare-bones of a play with no plot, no characters and no resolution. She scoffed under her breath. When had she gotten so poetic? The interview had been conducted by Former Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour. He asked Riddle about his childhood, his fantasies, his times at Hogwarts, the twenty or so people that he had killed using the killing curse - two people's names were mentioned, James and Lily Potter.

Reading Riddle's words - black ink on white page - would have been bad enough for a normal person but what horrified Fleur the most was the way that she could practically _hear_ the way that he talked about his victims, his desire for power, the excitement and longing - no remorse. Fleur turned the last page and slumped in her seat, breathing somewhat ragged like she had ran a mile.

There was still another binder in the file and she tentatively opened it.

**Dursley, Petunia**

**7th June, 1993**

**Her Majesty's Prison Send, Woking, Surrey**

Auror Scrimgeour had been replaced by Amelia this time and Fleur tilted her head in confusion at what this possibly had to do about Riddle. Then it hit her. This file wasn't Riddle's - it was Harry's.

**Bones: Are you aware that the Ministry of Magic takes the abuse of underage Magical people very seriously? Even if it is at the hands of a Muggle relative?**

**Dursley:...No.**

**Bones: Okay then, let's start at the beginning. Where does your nephew sleep?**

**Dursley: He's not my nephew - he's a freak, like his mother.**

**Bones: I see...where does _Harry_ sleep then?**

**Dursley: Cupboard under the stairs.**

Fleur pushed the file away from her in disgust and stared at it. She contemplated raising her wand and setting it on fire. Andromeda would have scolded her for it later but, at this point in time, Fleur didn't really care.

"You should sit down."

She had expected somebody to join her in the study. She just hadn't expected that somebody to be Ginny.

"Hermione's not coming," The ginger haired girl said," She read them a while ago."

" 'Ave you read zem as well?"

"Some of them," Ginny said as Fleur took the seat at the desk opposite her," Mostly though, I listened to them. Amelia gives me the audios. I play spot the lie. It's a real party."

Fleur realised with a jolt, that most people her age wouldn't even have the idea of reading one of those interviews. They wouldn't want to and they certainly wouldn't lose themselves in it. Not in the way that Fleur would - in the way that she already had. She thought back to Riddle's horrifying interview - but she couldn't turn it off, that part of her brain that wanted to understand and did understand.

"What is ze deal wiz you and 'Ermione?" Fleur was eager to change the conversation - forcing herself to think of something other than the fact that there was a large part of herself that wanted to keep reading. Harry and Ginny might have been together but it was Hermione who could dial her back a notch by just an utterance of her name.

"I've been in love with her since I was eleven." Ginny shrugged, like she hadn't just bared her soul to a shocked Fleur. Then, she realised, Ginny hadn't.

The girl howled with laughter, slamming her hand onto the desk. "Oh Merlin," She said, gasping for air between giggles," You should have seen your face. Really, Phlegm, I'm not a fan of incest and Hermione's the closest thing to a sister that I have. If I tried to kiss her then I think that she might actually hurl on me."

That was comforting...But it was the fact that it was comforting that had Fleur fall into one of her gay tailspins. She couldn't understand why she should care that there was nothing between Ginny and Hermione if Hermione continually played the role of the polite partner and complete stranger around the house.

"Listen," Ginny said," As funny as it is to watch you squirm, take a bit of friendly advice: there's not one person in this house that is not fundamentally screwed up. You weren't lying when you said that you only love one person. We're all fucked up. Including you. Including me. Including Luna, Theo and Hermione," She nodded to the file that was closed on the desk," And including Harry."

Fleur couldn't help but feel more insulted than helped.

"Hermione would want me to tell you to stay away from her," Ginny continued," And I want to tell you to stay away from her as well. But I won't."

Fleur waited for her to continue but Ginny didn't say anything else.

Instead she learned forward and tapped her finger on the file before saying," But do me a favour when you read the second file - come and find me."

* * *

_You've finally used the hair dye._

_It's not as good as the charms that you can use but sometimes you like to use the Muggle way._

_You don't know why but you just do._

_You nearly laugh at that._

_There's a woman in your hotel bed._

_She had been out for a while._

_You had finally escaped from work and come straight here._

_You're surprised that the potion has lasted that long but you don't question it._

_This one is beautiful, creamy skin and full lips._

_She's not exactly your type but you will make do._

_The knife is sitting on your bedside table, taunting you._

_You pick it up and twirl it around in your fingers._

_You glance at the woman in your hotel bed._

_You're getting closer to home now but you just can't control it anymore._

_You're getting angrier and angrier and it's getting harder to control it._

_She's closer to home then you would have liked but you sigh and get up._

_You place the knife back on your bedside table._

_You need a shower._

_Then you'll do it and you'll make it perfect._


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fleur goes into town to read her second case file and meets somebody at a coffee shop  
> Hermione and Fleur grow ever closer and talk about their childhoods in Hermione's bedroom  
> Fleur and Ginny bond over ice cream and difficult topics

For the next four days, Amelia and Andromeda stayed away from the house - working on their case - and, other than weeding the flower beds with the others at Moody's behest, there was nothing for Fleur to do but read and read the files she had been assigned to look over. Harry's file had been long and arduous. She hadn't mentioned it to the boy, Ginny's warning about them all being screwed up floated through her brain as she, finally picked up the second file.

She had a feeling that she knew what it would be about.

"You want to want?!" Moody demanded as Fleur came to him with her request. 

"I want to go into town," Fleur stated again, nodding once confidently," It will 'elp me zink."

He narrowed his eyes at her and stamped his staff into the ground in annoyance - it made a little dent in the wooden floor panels. "If I let you go," His words were careful and measured as he stared at her intensely - like if she were to look away then he would put her into the hospital with barely one movement," Then you must remember CONSTANT VIGILIANCE! You never know where dark witches or wizards may be hiding."

"Yes, sir," Fleur stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Moody could be so odd sometimes.

He gave her a once over again before sighing. "I'll send somebody to get you for lunch."

"Zat is really not-"

"No arguments, Delacour," He said," Remember, CONSTANT VIGILANCE while you're in town."

Fleur just nodded, exasperated as she left the house. It was a short walk into town, one that she had memorised during one of the trips that Andromeda had taken her and Hermione on to profile Muggles to keep their skills sharp. She had spotted a coffee place a few streets away from the park where Andromeda would play 'guess what type of person owns which dog'.

She ordered one pastry but no drink - less than confident in her abilities to use a lot of Muggle money to buy both. But, what she could say confidently, was that the teenage boy that was working as the cashier was almost definitely going to be writing his number on the napkin that he would give her for her tart. There was a high chance that he would also write a cheesy pick-up line on it as well.

**Ginevra Weasley**

**31st December, 1993**

**Ministry of Magic's Prison of Magical Youths, London**

"Enjoying a bit of light reading?"

Nearly half an hour later, Fleur looked up from the file in shock. She had chosen to sit at the back off the café, wedged in the corner by the wall. Clearly, she didn't want to be talked to. It was man that had spoken, about middle aged with hair as black as pitch - strands of silver amongst his curls. He was tall with a friendly smile, dressed in business attire. He beamed down at Fleur and ever so subtly, pushed his blazer back to reveal his wand sheath.

Fleur shifted so her arm was covering her reading material - an interview with the killer. "Somezing like zat," She offered up with a polite smile - a tight constraint on her Thrall.

"You looked pretty absorbed."

Fleur wanted to bite back with a _'zen why did you interrupt me'_. She decided that he either sought her out specifically because of her heritage or he was the type of person that didn't see the contradiction in interrupting somebody to tell them that they looked pretty absorbed in what they were reading. The jury was still out on which one it was.

"You live at Mad-eye's place, right?" He said with that same friendly smile, sliding into the seat opposite without an invitation," He and I go way back."

Fleur stayed tense, pulling apart his attire and attitude and filing it away while still covering the binder with her arm. "It is nice to meet you," She poured on the accent - hoping that it would get him to leave quicker.

Instead he shot back with a," Enjoying the weather?"

"Somezing like zat."

"Honestly," Hermione stepped forward and slid into the seat opposite Fleur. She was holding two drinks in her hand. One was a plastic cup of iced tea - with little black things in the bottom - while the other was a takeout cup full of coffee," I can't take you anywhere, can I Fleur? What is it with you and talking to complete strangers?" Hermione was grinning a mischievous grin that looked like Ginny's. Fleur's mind went back to that time at the shopping centre, when that boy had approached them. Things had changed a lot since then.

Fleur laughed then before blushing prettily when Hermione pushed the takeout cup towards her. She used it to wash down the last remains of her tart.

"Well then," The man coughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck," I should get going. Sorry for interrupting your date."

Fleur watched him go before her eyebrows shot to her hairline. "Date?!" She hissed.

Hermione laughed - a musical one that had Fleur glancing at her with her own smile. "Well, yeah," She scoffed, raising her arm and waving her left wrist. On it, was a woven, leather bracelet that featured the colours of the Bisexual flag. She then nodded to Fleur's own attire. A pair of Muggle jeans, a light blue shirt that matched the shade of the Beauxbatons uniform with an unbuttoned, flannel shirt thrown over the top. "We're not exactly dressed as the _straightest_ of people."

"Non, I suppose not," Fleur relented before picking up her takeout cup again," You did not 'ave to do zis."

Hermione just shrugged. "I talked with Ginny earlier," She took a drink of her tea," And she said and I quote,' Go out and keep her company, you sad excuse of a profiler. Buy yourself a Boba tea for gods sake. If you've had enough of me pissing on her parade then, at least, don't let my efforts go to waste.'" 

They shared a laugh.

"Ginny is an odd one, non?"

"Very odd," Hermione said," Read your file, Fleur. I find that this is the best place in town to collect your thoughts."

Fleur smiled, sipped her drink and got back to work. Hermione stayed by her side, her own book cracked open and lying on the table - another ancient runes text. Fleur wondered if the girl next to her ever ran out of books on ancient runes.

She almost missed it. Fleur had read the interview for twenty minutes. She would have missed it had the name of the interviewer not been printed over and over again, documenting each of the question's the interviewer asked.

_Granger._

_Granger._

_Granger._

_Granger._

The subject's surname was Weasley but the interviewer...the interviewer's name was Granger. Suddenly, Fleur froze, stopped breathing completely. She flicked her way through the last few pages of the interview, skimming at high speeds until Ginevra asked Granger a question.

**Weasley: Why would they send somebody like you? Another kid? What do they call you? Subject twenty-nine or something?**

**Granger: My name is Hermione - Hermione Granger. They sent me because they think that I can understand you better. They think that you're like me - or, at least, similar to me.**

Fleur whipped around suddenly and found Hermione looking at her, like she was waiting for Fleur to realise.

"You were ze one zat interviewed 'er," Fleur said.

"Yes."

"Zey - Amelia and Andromeda - zey wanted to recruit 'er. So zey sent you to make peace first, to - how you English say - butter 'er up."

"Yes," Hermione sighed and sipped at her drink, stirring the straw around a bit," They did."

"I zought," Fleur continued," 'Arry and Ginny - zey said zat we were not allowed on active cases."

"The program used to be different," Hermione said as she rose from her seat and closed her book," I'm sure that they've told you but, my age is messed up because Amelia and Andromeda gave me a time turner. Before the other's arrived, I was used on cases - behind the scenes, off the books, to help Amelia. That's why I had the time turner - so I could work on as many cases as possible."

She picked up her drink.

"Come on," She said," We should get home - I'll explain more about it there."

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Fleur found herself sitting on Hermione's bed, surrounded by snacks. They had completely raided the kitchen with Luna as their only witness and she had sworn not to tell anybody before leaving to go to the beach, humming an odd little song under her breath. Hermione and Fleur had exchanged a fond look at the younger girl's antics.

Currently though, they were both hunched up together leaning against the huge piece of wall that housed Hermione's Bisexual flag. They had moved onto what the program used to be like to Hermione's first impression of everybody. "They have files on each of us," She said softly," Amelia usually keeps them locked up in her office but Theo is a good lock picker and Ginny convinced him to do it after Luna turned up. There's detailed histories on all of us and, Merlin, I don't know. It could creeps me out, you know?"

"I get it," Fleur said," So, zese files? What type of zings is in it?"

"Psychological evaluations," Hermione shrugged," And the like. Mine has a really big part about my childhood."

"You do not 'ave to-"

"It's fine," Hermione said as she rested her head back on the wall and grabbed some biscuits out of the packet," My dad wasn't a good person. My mum always protected me from him but one day...I guess that she couldn't take it anymore. She packed me up at seven years old and we went on the run together." She shrugged again." Mum used to have to scam people so we could get money. I guess...I learnt to read people because I want to help her - I wanted to feel needed. A couple of months ago, at the shopping centre. You were right. I didn't have friends growing up - we moved around too much. The longest time we spent anywhere was two and a half weeks. A few months before my eleventh birthday, she died. I walked in on the crime scene. We were staying in a bar and I walked back into the store room to find her and there was blood all over but no body. I turned on the light and my magic just reacted when I saw it and I nearly destroyed the cars that were parked nearby. That's why I joined the program - they never found the killer. I wanted to be able to find the person that did it to her. The case got closed a few weeks after it was filed - Muggle police said that she was attacked with a knife, low possibility of survival."

Ginny had been right a few days back - they were all definitely fucked up in some way.

"I could never tell if people actually like me for me or it it was ze Zrall," Fleur said, meeting Hermione's slightly tearful eyes," I learnt to tell if people were genuine in zeir actions and it kind of went from zere. My fazer worked it out a few years back - 'e is a politician back 'ome. 'E likes to 'ost zese little parties where 'e invites 'is rivals. 'E 'as me watch zeir actions and tell 'im what zeir next actions will probably be. I jumped at ze chance to join ze program - I did not want to be 'is puppet any longer."

"I guess," Hermione said with a small smile," That we have both been let down by our fathers."

"I suppose. What do you zink zat it says in my file zen?"

"Daddy issues, probably," Hermione said," That's what it says in mine." She looked at the clock. "I didn't mean to keep you, you should probably talk to Ginny. She doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"It is fine," Fleur said with a smile as she rose from the bed," I like talking to you."

"I like talking to you too," Hermione said," We should do this again sometime."

"Definitely."

* * *

Fleur found Ginny on the roof. She was eating from a tub of cookie dough ice cream, one spoon stuck in the food. Fleur took the spot next to her, file resting on her lap as she took the invitation and the spoon that was waiting for her to take. "You read it." It wasn't a question.

"Oui."

"Once upon a time," Ginny said as she stared out at the front garden of the cottage," There was a little girl called Ginevra. She had two loving parents and she had six awesome older brothers. But her life wasn't loving or awesome. Her parents joined a magical cult, those that did odd, not strictly illegal rituals. Men and women were separated and the leaders of the cult chose disciples - those they deemed to be blessed, those they deemed to be worth it. So, little Ginevra learnt that if you tell people what you want then they'll give you what you want. She learnt to lie and she learnt to learn when people lied to her. One day though, one of the leaders scared her so badly and tried to kill her. So, little Ginevra ran and ran and ran. She got to the south of the country and bumped into a man. He tried to kill her so she killed him first. Ginevra went into a magical youth prison. She went in but Ginny came out."

She stabbed her spoon into the melting ice cream.

"I am sorry for what you 'ad to go zrough."

"You mean that."

"I do."

Ginny sighed and stared out at the horizon. "I had two choices. I could either join the program or go to a youth prison only to be moved to Azkaban once I was eighteen."

"I would 'ave done ze same - zey should not 'ave given you a choice like zat," Fleur replied," It does not make you a bad person."

"Andromeda thinks that it does," Ginny hissed back," She doesn't like me at all. I've tried to work out why, by Merlin, I have but I just...can't. Amelia takes my disregard for authority in a joking way but Andromeda doesn't. She hates me and she's always suspicious of Harry - like he'll snap because of what he grew up with. She watches Hermione like that too sometimes, but not nearly as much. She thinks that I'm a disruptive influence."

Ginny sighed and shovelled some ice cream into her mouth. Fleur listened in silence, eating away at the food in contemplation.

"Andromeda knows that we don't get on," Ginny huffed," And she set you those files to drive a bigger wedge between us. She doesn't like that I'm close to Hermione - that I took away her golden student. She doesn't want me to do the same to you."

Fleur sighed and put down her spoon before turning and holding out her hand in the traditional English greeting.

" 'Ello," She said," I am Fleur Delacour, profiler. It is nice to meet you."

"Hi," Ginny's answering smile said it all," I'm Ginny Weasley, deception specialist."

* * *

_They are on to you._

_You know it._

_You can't find it in yourself to care._

_They won't find you for a while._

_They still have so many bodies to find over the course of so many years._

_You've been killing closer to home but they won't find those bodies just yet._

_They have so many to find._

_You've led them on a wild chase for them all._

_You smile as you slump onto your armchair._

_There are letters on your table and one of your sister's owls._

_You sigh and fetch it a treat, watching as it eats before taking off back to the skies._

_You look at the letters in annoyance and burn them._

_You realised that you never truly loved your sisters, not the way that you should._

_You can't find it in yourself to care about that either._

_It's just a fact of life._

_You can't change and neither do you want to._

_They don't deserve you._

_They didn't get you, not fully._

_You had always been the outsider out of the four of you - the weird one._

_You sigh and banish the ashes._

_You kick off your shoes and sigh again._

_Relaxation is a foreign concept to you._

_You don't like it at all._

_You get up._

_You stretch._

_You leave the house in search of another woman._


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fleur gets a letter that causes her to make plans to go back home  
> Ginny raids Fleur's wardrobe  
> Fleur and the other girls discuss makeup and kleptomaniac tendencies

Fleur slumped in her seat at the breakfast bar. She looked from the letter in front of her, to the impatient owl staring at her and the bowl of half eaten cereal that she continually spun her spoon around in. Aristia, her mother's personal owl, hooted in annoyance when Fleur made no move to reply to the letter. Easter was coming up and it was one of the only times of the year that Apolline Delacour came home - the Veela had their own personal celebrations during the week of Easter.

"I don't know what that cereal has done to you but I'm sure that it's extremely sorry," Theo said as he sat opposite.

"What?"

"You've been stirring it into submission for the past ten minutes," He replied, glancing at the letter," Plans for Easter?"

"I guess," Fleur sighed," What about you? Any plans?"

"I'm heading home," Theo shrugged," Laze about for a week with my parents but that's it. I'm already packed."

Fleur laughed at that - trust Theo to already be prepared. "What do ze o'zzers usually do?"

"Luna heads home to her dad," He said," Harry, Ginny and Hermione have nowhere else to go so just mill about here. You going back to France?"

"I suppose," Fleur shrugged," I should probably go and reply to my mo'zzer."

She sent her bowl flying into the sink with a flick of her wand - a non verbal spell that Harry had been all too happy to teach her. She sulkily grabbed her mother's letter and trudged back to her room. Aristia followed after her like a vulture.

The letter - much like all other's she had received from her mother - was down to business and straight to the point. Essentially, it stated that Fleur was to return home for Easter to take part in the Veela rites for the week - which all culminated in a party on Saturday night. There was no room for argument and Fleur knew that if she did argue, it would just delay the inevitable and her mother would get her way in the end.

Her mind cast back to truth or dare game a few months ago and Ginny's admission a few days ago - that she hadn't been lying when she had said that she only loved one person. She didn't know why that stung as much as it did. The entire family would be there - at the parties and the rites. Fleur didn't really want to face them - knew that she couldn't without thinking of her answer to Luna's question. It was made even worse when she realised that she would have to explain her sudden disappearance to England to them. She didn't even know the cover story she was supposed to use - the Naturals program was on a strictly need to know basis and currently, the only people that needed to know where Fleur was, were her parents.

Even then though, they hadn't been told exactly what the program was. All they knew was that it was an alternative schooling for those students that were academically gifted in some way or another.

She huffed and slouched over her reply.

"Something wrong?"

As Fleur jumped in shock, she knocked her knee against the table leg and whipped her head around.

Hermione was leaning against the door frame with a smile on her face. 

"My mo'zzer."

"Crap, Fleur," Hermione said as she moved to lean against the desk," I'm sorry. Anything that I can do to help?"

Fleur sighed and shook her head. "Not really. She wants me to come 'ome for Easter - zere are special ceremonies Veela do during zat time. Mo'zzer said zat I can bring a plus one as well!" She groaned and buried her head in her hands. She couldn't even fathom how embarrassing it would be to turn up alone - Merlin only knows what her creative stories her mother had woven in her absence.

"Do you have to go with somebody?" Hermione asked. She had a book tucked under her arm - another one on ancient runes.

"Not truly but..." Fleur sighed again," I do not want to go alone zis year...after everyzing zat is 'appening. I just do not zink zat-"

"You fit in their world anymore?"

"Oui."

"I could come with, er, I mean...if you want. It's just," She shrugged, a pretty blush adorning her features," Harry and Ginny sneak off to make out when everybody else is gone and," She lowered her voice," Between you and me, they aren't nearly as quiet as they think they are."

"I would like it if you came wiz me," Fleur said with her own smile," We 'ave a library back 'ome. I zink zat you would like it zere."

"I look forward to it."

* * *

Fleur awoke on Wednesday morning to the horrible sound of metal grinding on metal. Amelia and Andromeda were still out on their case but sent regular owls with work to do. Luna's work in the basement had increased tenfold, Ginny was in a fouler mood than usual with the amount of audios she had to listen to. Harry had taken over the TV entirely and Theo had graduated from written accounts of attackers to sketch from to using audio accounts. Fleur and Hermione were often found hunched over in Andromeda's study, pouring over cold case files - actual ones this time, not files on their fellow Naturals.

Sitting up and blinking blearily, Fleur ran a hand through her hair and sat up.

"What are you playing now?" Fleur asked when she noticed Luna sitting on the floor with flipped over cards surrounding her.

"Solitaire again," Was Luna's response.

"I will never understand 'ow you do zis."

"Luna is something of a card shark," Ginny stuck her head out of Fleur's wardrobe," If she skims the desk once, she can more or less track the cards even once they're shuffled."

"The Nargles help," Luna put in helpfully.

Fleur nodded fondly before realising with a jolt that Ginny was in her closet. _Metal on metal,_ she realised, _Metal hangers sliding across a metal rack._

"Luna?" Fleur called out as she stood up and stressed," Why is Ginny in my wardrobe?"

Luna shrugged as she moved one card into a different pile - still face down. "Motivation is really more your domain than mine," Luna said happily, humming under her breath," I find most people somewhat bewildering."

"Okay," Fleur sighed and rubbed her temples - it was too early for a headache," Why would you let Ginny into my wardrobe?"

"Oh," Luna replied - suddenly understanding," She brought a bribe."

"A bribe?"

That was when Fleur realised that Luna had a mug in a death grip. She peered inside and sighed deeply. Luna on coffee could be compared to an auctioneer on speed. Numbers poured from her mouth at rapid fire speeds until the high wore off. So, Fleur sighed and shook her head in exasperation. Instead she turned to join Ginny in the wardrobe, pulling a turtleneck over her pyjama shirt.

Ginny was wearing her flying boots with a dark, off the shoulder dress. She was wearing one of Harry's jackets over it and her hair was braided down her back.

Fleur blinked once as a realisation sunk into her.

"Zat is my dress!" She exclaimed.

Ginny just shrugged demurely with a mischievous grin on her face. "In the spirit of our newfound friendship, it's mine. Didn't the Auror department warn you? Pathological lying, kleptomania - it's all really the same."

Fleur couldn't tell if Ginny was being serious or not.

"Kidding," She confirmed after a few seconds," About the kleptomania not about my intention of never giving this dress back again. Honestly, Luna is the klepto in the house - she's attracted to shiny things."

Fleur turned to Luna who confirmed the statement with a shrug as she sped up her game a bit more.

Fleur rolled her eyes as she headed towards her desk. It was quite messy with papers scattered everywhere. She dug under a bit for the current case file that she and Hermione were working through. She had gone to bed with it last night, wanting to finish reading one of the interviews so she could discuss it with her partner. Ginny continued going through Fleur's wardrobe, occasionally pulling out items of clothing to try on - only to throw them back from where they came from.

A knock at the door had all three of them jumping in shock.

"Are you all decent?" Moody's gruff voice was said from the other side of the door.

"Not morally," Ginny put in helpfully," But I am wearing clothes."

The door swung open and Moody glanced around the room with scrutinising eyes. "All of you in the living room in two minutes," He grunted," We're de-gnoming the garden today."

Ginny groaned loudly and Fleur rolled her eyes with a smile.

* * *

After a strenuous but exciting day of de-gnoming the front and back garden, Fleur, Ginny, Hermione and Luna were sitting in the games room. Theo and Harry were still outside, playing with beater's bats and using the gnomes as target practice after they had slacked off during the day - Moody had punished them with doing the rest without help. He was sitting out there as well, smoking from a pipe and keeping a close eye on them.

Ginny, once again, had taken up residence on the chaise while Luna had migrated over to the armchair. Fleur was sitting on the opposite end of the sofa to Hermione but had the younger girl's legs on her lap. Both were reading from books while Luna - who had snuck another cup of coffee - and Ginny argued with each other.

"There are more wizards and witches diagnosed as psychopaths than Muggles - five percent of the wizarding population are psychopaths. Recent estimates show that over thirty percent of singers on the wizarding wireless network are."

"Whose estimates?" Ginny asked.

Luna smiled like the Cheshire cat. "Mine."

"Forget studying killers, let's just arrest thirty percent of those featured on the wireless then." Ginny leaned back on the chaise and put her hands behind her head.

Luna scoffed lightly as she toyed with the end of her braid. "Being a psychopath isn't a crime."

"Are you defending psychopaths?" Ginny arched her eyebrow to a ridiculous height. "This is why we don't give you coffee."

"Hey!" Luna said defensively. "I'm just saying that statistically, psychopaths are more likely to end up as head of a department than a killer!"

"Whatever!" Ginny was trying not to laugh and Fleur nearly broke her cold mask to laugh as well. She nudged Hermione's feet - causing the girl to look up in confusion, head tilted to the side to question. Fleur jerked her head to the side to draw Hermione's attention to where Ginny and Luna seemed to be having a staring competition.

"Snap out of it, you two," Hermione said with a little giggle," Don't you have better things to do?"

The smile fell from both Hermione and Fleur's faces when they saw Ginny smirk at them. They exchanged looks of horror - more than wary at what Ginny had planned.

"Hey," The girl in question said as she turned her wand over in her hands," Fleur? Are you any good at makeup?"

Fleur puffed out her chest, a swell of pride going through her. "I am Veela," She said as if that was explanation enough.

"Perfect."

That was how, ten minutes later, Fleur was nearly on the rug trying to stop Luna from squirming as she applied mascara - it was just not in the statistician's nature to sit still of so long. However, for as difficult as Luna was, Hermione was more by tenfold. At first mention of makeovers, Hermione had bolted up faster than Fleur had ever seen her move and had hastily, trying to escape the games room.

Ginny had somehow seen this coming and had had the foresight to lock the door so when Hermione tried to pull it open, she couldn't. With the girl distracted for a moment, Ginny managed to cast a body bind jinx on Hermione and drag her back.

"I hate you," Hermione huffed and Fleur's heart just leapt when she saw the pout on the younger girl's face.

"No you don't," Ginny said as she pulled a tube of lipstick from the makeup bag that she and Fleur were using. She applied the product before pulling back and smiling. Fleur turned as well. Hermione looked beautiful everyday but she looked even more beautiful. Her lipstick was dark against her skin and her eyes had been thoroughly mascara-ed and drew out the amber flecks in them. Fleur was struck with how much Hermione seemed to look like how her mother did in all of the pictures in the girl's room - almost identical apart from their eye colour.

"See?" Ginny said as she summoned a mirror and showed Hermione her reflection. "Don't you look really good?"

"Gin," Hermione said softly, moving the lipstick around in her hands before checking the name on the bottom of the tube. Fleur immediately caught the change in her crush's demeanour. " Dusty red. Where did you get this?"

"Why do you want to know?" Ginny hummed as she rummaged around in her makeup bag for something else.

"I just do, okay?" Hermione huffed.

"I bought it Hermione," Ginny laughed, smiling fondly at her friend," As part of our fine system of capitalist exchange."

"Right," Hermione coughed awkwardly," It's just the colour-"

"It is quite a popular colour," Ginny continued," I know that you're against giving Luna coffee but if you bribe her with it then she could probably tell you how many millions of tubes are sold every year. Seriously, Hermione, just say thank you."

"Thank you," Hermione said as she stared at the lipstick still clenched in her hands. She moved to pass it back but Ginny held up her hand.

"Keep it," She said with a smile," It looks better on you anyway."

Hermione's brow furrowed at that and Fleur couldn't help but slip into profiler mode. _You look like your mother. You don't know how to react to that. She liked lipstick that shade - or those that were similar. It brings up bad memories for you._

She motioned for Ginny to swap with her - something the girl was all too happy to do - and sat opposite Hermione. She moved her hand forward to rest on Hermione's knee. Her voice was low so Ginny and Luna couldn't hear their conversation.

"Are you okay?"

"No," Hermione's eyes filled with tears, she wiped them away hurriedly," Sorry - I don't know why I'm crying. I should be over this."

Fleur didn't answer and just opened her arms.

It shocked her that Hermione went into them so easily.

* * *

_They still aren't even close to catching you._

_You've taken a break from the killing for a while but you know that you need to kill soon._

_You crave it._

_You need it like you need air._

_But you'll given them a little break for now._

_You wonder how long it'll take them to find your last three victims._

_They're hidden quite well but, soon enough, they'll be found._

_It's nearly time._

_So very nearly time._

_You can't wait for your final act._

_It'll be one for the history books._

_And the best thing is, you won't be caught._


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione and Fleur take a trip to France for the holidays  
> Fleur's relatives are overbearing  
> Apolline Delacour plans a wedding

If you were to tell Fleur on the first day of January that she was going to become a bit emotional when she left Shell Cottage for Easter then she would have laughed and told you to not be so stupid. But now, as she stood on by the front door, she blinked away tears. Her suitcase was packed and sitting behind her with Hermione at her side, being hugged tightly by Theo. Luna had left yesterday with a lot of her goodbye being spent hugging them all. Fleur had just pulled away from Harry's hug when Ginny appeared in front of her.

She lightly punched the Veela in the arm. "Bring her back safe, d'you hear Delacour?" Ginny grinned," And don't get yourself killed either, all right? If you die then I'll have to find somebody else to annoy."

"Of course," Fleur rolled her eyes as she replied sarcastically," I want 'ate to inconvenience you in any way."

"Glad you get it," Ginny said," You guys should head off, wouldn't want to miss your portkey and mill around the cottage for Easter."

Fleur returned to Hermione's side with a smile and took her hand. Fleur had never been to the British Ministry so it was up to Hermione to apparate them there to get their portkey.

"Leaving without saying goodbye, Hermione?"

They hadn't seen Andromeda in a month and a bit. She looked even more exhausted then when they last saw her. Her hair was in unbrushed curls and her robes were slightly askew. Hermione smiled and laughed slightly before leaning in for the hug with Andromeda. The Auror squeezed her tightly before releasing her.

"Now, you stay safe, okay? I don't want to come back from this case to find out that you and Fleur have broken your arms or something!"

"Okay."

Andromeda then turned to Fleur and pulled her into a slightly tense, one armed hug. "Take care of yourself as well, Fleur. I would hate for my two students to get injured in a different country."

"I will try."

Andromeda nodded once before letting the girls leave.

The pair managed to get to the portkey department early so had to wait for little over an hour.

"You and Andromeda are very close," Fleur said as they waited.

"Yeah," Hermione replied a little shyly," She turned up when I was thirteen - reminds me a bit of Mum sometimes. So," She shrugged," I guess I clung to that for a bit."

Fleur just laughed and nudged Hermione softly. "I zink zat it is nice zat she cares for you," She said with a grin.

"ALL THOSE WITH TICKETS BOOKED FOR THE TEN O'CLOCK PORTKEY TO FRANCE PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO PORTKEY ROOM NUMBER TWELVE. THANK YOU FOR WAITING."

Hermione stood first and offered Fleur her hand.

"You ready?"

"Ready as I will ever be."

* * *

Upon entering the estate grounds, Fleur felt the tickle of other Veela's Thrall on her skin. She and Hermione, arm in arm, strolled up the winding path to the manor. Occasionally, Fleur would point out a few of the sculptures and explain who they were of. They passed by the unicorn paddocks and Fleur couldn't help but introduce Hermione to her personal mount Melinoe. The unicorn bowed it's head in greeting and moved so it could press itself closer to Hermione - who yelped slightly and hesitantly raised her hand to run her fingers through the unicorn's mane.

"Excusez moi?!" Fleur huffed in mock annoyance," I 'ave been away for monz's Melinoe! Where is my greeting?!"

Her unicorn stared at her in contemplation before huffing and turning back for more pets from Hermione.

"I think that she likes me better than you," Hermione stuck her tongue out childishly and Fleur's heart stopped.

"I suppose, zat you are right," She relented before moving to rest her arm around Hermione's shoulders," Let us go - Maman and Papa are probably impatient for our arrival."

"Alright then," Hermione laughed," If you think that will save that fragile ego of yours."

Fleur laughed, head thrown back as she nudged Hermione with her hip. "Why did nobody warn me of zis jokey side of you?"

Hermione shrugged. "Would you have believed them?"

"Non," Fleur grinned, arm still draped over Hermione," I would not 'ave."

They didn't make any more stops until Fleur was nearly thrown to the ground - almost bringing Hermione down with her - by a blonde blur that smacked into her body.

"Fleur! Fleur!" Gabrielle exclaimed as she attempted to climb her older sister like a tree," You are back! You 'ave come 'ome!"

"Yeah," Fleur said, arm not leaving Hermione's shoulder and causing both of them to rock about in Gabrielle's excitement. It was only then, did the little girl finally notice Hermione standing there, thoroughly amused at the little Veela's antics.

"Is zis your girlfriend, Fleur?!" Gabrielle yelled," Is it?! Is it?!"

"Whoa!" Fleur exclaimed," Gabby - 'old on. Me and 'Ermione are-"

"Yeah!" Hermione said quickly," Fleur and I are definitely no-"

Gabrielle didn't seem to listen as she turned around quickly and ran back up the path. For such a small girl, she was incredibly quick and Fleur couldn't help the blush that rose on her cheeks when she heard what her sister was yelling about.

"Maman!" Gabrielle screamed as she got to the front door and slipped inside," Fleur brought 'er girlfriend!"

Fleur turned to Hermione, intent on apologising to see that the other profiler was also blushing as red as Fleur felt.

Hermione awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. "You sister seems, er, nice."

"She is a menace."

* * *

Fleur led Hermione to the main receiving room of the manor where, no doubt, the rest of the family was waiting for them. If Hermione picked up on the extra Thrall in the air then she didn't comment on it and allowed Fleur to stem her nerves by chattering about the architecture and how long the manor had been in the family for. Fleur was glad that Harry wasn't here, she would not have liked it if he read her emotions at this point in time.

Fleur's hands rested on the door handles. "Be ready," She warned before pushing the door open.

"Ready for-"

Hermione didn't even get to finish her question because her voice got drowned out by the many shouts of Fleur's name.

Gabrielle was sitting on an older woman's lap, looking very proud of herself as her sister and her companion walked into the room. Instantly, the pair of them were attacked by a group of very touchy Veela - none of them, seemed to care that they were hugging a complete stranger.

"Fleur," Apolline Delacour said as she ran a hand through Gabrielle's hair," It is so good to see you again, ma fille." 

Fleur just nodded and smiled - currently being squeezed to death by a particularly emotional aunt who petted her hair and kissed her all over. Next to her, Hermione was getting a similar treatment - being clung to by one of Fleur's many relatives with a quite...bestowed amount of cleavage.

"And when were you going to tell me zat you brought 'ome your girlfriend? Hmm?" 

That had everybody in the room stilling. Fleur and Hermione sent each other alarmed looks while Fleur's Veela relatives seemed to look at Hermione in a completely new light.

Fleur cleared her throat. "Maman, I do not know what Gabrielle 'as told you but me and 'Ermione are not toge'zzer."

"Lying is unbecoming of a lady, Fleur," Apolline said coldly," We are Veela - we are no stranger to affairs of ze 'eart. Zere is no need to be so shy. Sit, please, boz of you and tell me, 'ow did you meet?"

"Yeah, Fleur!" One of her cousins - Odette - put in. "Where did you meet? And where ze 'ell 'ave you been? Tante Apolline won't tell us anyzing!"

Fleur opened her mouth to come up with a lie on the spot but Hermione cut in seamlessly. "We actually go to school together," Hermione said with a lying ability that nearly put Ginny's to shame," There's a program back home that accepts only the most gifted individuals. We met there and studied together quite a few times."

"I see," One of Fleur's aunts said thoughtfully," 'Ow many students are zere at ze moment?"

"Six of us including myself and 'Ermione," Fleur put in, unconsciously reaching out for Hermione's hands for comfort," Zey zink zat it makes us work 'arder, smaller groups, less distraction."

That satisfied one of her aunts but not the multitudes of cousins and other relatives that were intent on learning about Fleur and Hermione's 'relationship'. Merlin, Fleur would definitely have to keep this from Ginny - she would have a complete field day with this type of information. Fleur and Hermione kept denying their relationship but nobody seemed to believe them at all - being met with raised eyebrows and condescending giggles.

Quite a few of the Veela had been enamoured with Hermione's curly hair and couldn't stop touching it. A few of them had sidled up to her as well, running hands over her arms and resting them on her leg. Hermione kept flashing Fleur looks of alarm - to which Fleur would respond by shooing her relatives away.

"Where is Papa?" She asked suddenly, desperate to change the subject.

"Out," Was Apolline's clipped response," 'E will not be 'ere for ze 'olidays."

 _Something changed while I was away,_ Fleur realised. Her parents were usually cold towards each other but never to this degree. Veela loved passionately but Fleur had had her doubts if the thing between her parents had ever been love. To her, it had always seemed more like a mutually beneficial relationship between them. Her father got the influence of being part of the Delacour clan and her mother had Fleur's grandmother no longer asking when she would settle down.

"I see," Fleur said. Part of her was relieved that she wouldn't see her father and another part was annoyed that this conversation was over and there was no longer a distraction from her mother and relative's incessant questions about Hermione. During her brief distraction, Fleur hadn't noticed that one of the human wives of one of her cousins had sidled up to Hermione and seemed to be offering her advice about dating a Veela.

"Now," She was saying," Veela 'ave a lot of stamina and it is okay if, at first, you can not keep up. Veela love wearing out zeir partners and-"

"Thank you for the advice," Hermione's voice had gone squeaky as she spoke," But, truly, me and Fleur are not together. We're just friends."

"If you two are not dating," One of the Veela cousins put in," Zen why not give me a shot? I bet zat I could satisfy you, 'Ermione?"

Fleur's posture went rigid as she reached over to pull Hermione closer to her - eyes narrowed at her cousin.

"So you are dating!" The cousin laughed," Stop denying it! It makes you easy targets for teasing!"

Fleur resisted the urge to hit her cousin with the bat bogey hex that Ginny had been all too happy to teach her. She reached for her wand but Hermione's hand on her wrist stopped her.

"So," Thankfully, Apolline came to the rescue," 'Ow is ze program Fleur? You said zat zere were o'zzer students?"

"Very good," Fleur said, relieved that the topic wasn't about her supposed relationship," And yeah, zere are more students. Zey work wiz somebody different to us - me and 'Ermione work wiz ze same person." She was really pushing the limits of what she could get away with revealing without it outing the entire program - she had never been the best liar.

"Really?" One of her mother's sisters asked," Why do you not all study togezzer? What kind of program is zis again, Apolline?"

"It depends on your strengths and weaknesses," Hermione said before Apolline realised that she had barely been given any information before Fleur 'enrolled'," Fleur was chosen for her Charms skills and I was chosen for my work in ancient runes - there's surprisingly a lot of overlap in those areas in ancient sources. The program offers research assignments for every student and me and Fleur work on many of our own together. Our friend Ginny specialises in Transfiguration and works with our friend Harry - he does Defence Against the Dark Arts. The other students, Theo and Luna, work in Potions and Care of Magical Creatures."

"I see," The aunt said softly," 'Ow did you get scouted, Miss Granger?"

"Oh?" Hermione said with practiced ease," I went to Hogwarts -" A bold lie but nobody but Fleur knew that "- But got fast tracked into OWL classes. My parents taught me Latin when I was younger so it wasn't that hard of a jump. I was set to take the OWL a few months into my courses. I got flagged by the program after that, got taken out of Hogwarts and put into the group." She shrugged like she hadn't made up all of that on the spot. "The research papers are very challenging but Fleur's been helping me out loads. We make a good team."

The aunt that was interrogating her softened a fraction before turning and saying with the upmost seriousness," Fleur, you need to keep 'er."

* * *

The pair of them barely escaped from the interrogation earlier and Fleur couldn't stop apologising for it. It was made even worse when Apolline had decided that Hermione would sleep in Fleur's room for the duration of her stay.

"I am so sorry," Fleur said," I 'ad no idea zat Gabby would assume zat we were togezzer."

"It's er, fine?" Hermione said as she sat on the edge of Fleur's bed," She didn't know."

The room hadn't changed at all since she had left. It was still a bit of a mess with fairy lights strung up on every available space. There was a pile of clean clothes on her desk chair - with a quill still dipped in an ink pot. Fleur had never been an overly nostalgic person so her room was mostly bare of any pictures. Except for one. It was of Fleur and Gabrielle when they were younger - the day that Gabby had been brought home from the hospital.

Fleur was smiling in the picture, looking down in such wonder at the baby in her arms. Picture Gabrielle wriggled around and hit her sister in the face with her fist. Picture Fleur recoiled sharply before grinning again and laughing, reaching to poke her sister's cheek.

"Gabrielle is a menace," Fleur said as she sat next to Hermione, flopping down on her back so she was staring at the ceiling," But she is cute, so I let it pass. My family, 'owever, I am afraid, will zink zat we are toge'zzer."

Hermione laughed at that, shaking her head in exasperation. "They'll get it eventually," She said," Besides, what's the worst that can happen with them thinking that we're together?"

"You 'ave no idea," Fleur said darkly before laughing. She stood up with a sigh when Hermione nudged her softly. 

Unpacking was a mostly silent affair with Fleur giving up half of her wardrobe space for Hermione to use. Hermione took some time to peruse Fleur's selection of books before nodding once, content with what was on the shelf.

When the girl's got the summons for dinner by a house elf. Hermione was sitting atop Fleur's desk while the other girl was sitting on her desk chair, talking about the first time that she had met Melinoe. Dinner was to be eaten in the biggest dining room in the manor and Fleur had grasped Hermione's hand tightly as she tugged her through the winding halls of Delacour Manor. Fleur wanted to avoid meeting her relatives in the hall so pulled Hermione through the back corridors and ducking behind tapestries when she heard people coming.

They took the long way to the dining room, laughing and shrieking with each other when they bumped into Fleur's old nanny elf, who fixed them both with a stern gaze - that was vaguely reminiscent of when Amelia caught Ginny sitting on the countertops - and sent them on their way to socialise with the rest of the family.

"Zat was cheating and you know it!" Fleur exclaimed as the pair finally entered the dining room.

"It was not!" Hermione hissed back," You just weren't quick enough to draw your wand!"

"I was distracted!"

"How exactly were you distracted?" Hermione laughed, nudging Fleur with a grin," I'm pretty sure that you're making up excuses."

"It was Ginny's fault!" Fleur defended, nudging back," She was taunting me."

"You've been living with Ginny for how many months? You would think that you had gotten used to it by now."

Fleur huffed before smirking and poking Hermione in the cheek. "Like 'ow you 'ave gotten used to Theo asking to draw you every day? What was it again zat 'appened last time?"

Hermione mumbled something under her breath with a pout.

"Sorry?" Fleur continued, making a big show of cupping her ear and leaning closer," What was zat?"

"Awww!" They both turned and felt their features colour when they noticed the many Veela and their partners sitting at the table, watching them. "Young love, it is so sweet."

Taking their seats at the table quietly, Fleur nudged Hermione with her hand and inclined her head to where Gabrielle was sitting opposite - grinning a the pair of them like they had hung the moon.

"So," Apolline said when there was a comfortable silence in the room as everybody ate," When is ze wedding?"

"What?!" Fleur and Hermione demanded at the same time, exchanging looks with each other.

"She is a keeper, ma fille," Apolline said with a smile that she often used to unnerve the people that she worked with," So when is ze wedding? Would you like your grandmo'zzer's ring?"

"Mrs Delacour," Hermione said quickly," You hardly know me. It would not be-"

"I was zinking an Autumn wedding," Apolline continued on like Hermione hadn't even spoken," I am sure zat I can book a few weeks off for wedding preparations. Zere is a glade nearby zat every member of ze Clan marries at. Autumn colours would look so good in ze pictures," She took a long drink of her wine glass," Now, grandchildren? 'Ow long will I 'ave to wait for zem?"

* * *

_You sigh as you wash the blood off of your split knuckles._

_You needed to burn off your excess energy._

_You told yourself that you wouldn't kill anybody over Easter._

_You swore it._

_And you haven't - at least, not yet._

_You had punched a punching bag until your knuckles had split open and the only thing that you could hear was the roaring in your ears._

_On your coffee table, sits another pack of hair dye._

_It worked so well the last time so you've bought it again._

_You look up and stare at the reflection in your bathroom mirror._

_Your pupils are dilated and your breathing is erratic._

_Your brow furrows and your fist rises and smacks into the mirror._

_It fractures._

_You hit it again._

_Again._

_Again._

_You hit it until your reflection is so distorted that you can't recognise yourself._

_You smile and continue to wash your hands._


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fleur and Hermione finish up their homework  
> They attend a ball  
> Melinoe offers Fleur some advice

It was on Saturday when the pair of profilers got an odd respite from the whirlwind of activities that were spread across the week. There were rituals of love and prosperity, sacrifices to the Veela gods, times for revelling and an odd ceremony that had the elder, bonded Veela and their partners kissing in the forest - an odd sort of golden glow leaving their bodies and rushing into the ground. 

Apolline had forced Fleur into taking part in all of the rites that she possibly could. More often than not, this lead to her having to leave Hermione to fend for herself against the throng of Veela partners that seemed intent on getting Hermione to admit that she and Fleur were in a relationship. Other times, Fleur would return mentally and physically exhausted to find that Hermione had become the clan's unofficial babysitter and was surrounded by little Veela children.

Gabrielle had taken to Hermione immediately and many times, Fleur would turn up and see Gabby badgering Hermione to produce pretty charms or turn a blade of grass into something completely different.

It was always difficult for the pair of them to get time alone so they could work on their homework. Andromeda had set them one case file to look over and they both snuck away from the mass of family that patrolled the halls and slipped into the library so they could work on it.

**Bellatrix Black Lestrange**

**13th-18th November 1981**

"Somezing wrong?" Fleur asked when she noticed Hermione's wrinkled brow as she looked at the name of the torturer. They were just starting on a case about the person that had tortured Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom to insanity.

"Yeah," Hermione said, shaking her head to get rid of errant thoughts," Sorry, I just recognised the first surname from somewhere - a book I think. There's so few Purebloods in Britain that there's incest between them to keep their blood 'pure'."

**Williamson: Now, Mrs Lestrange, can you tell me about your home life? What was Cygnus Black like as a father?**

**Lestrange: How dare your filthy Mudblood mouth utter my noble father's name! How dare you!**

"She sounds like a right charmer," Hermione muttered under her breath. Fleur caught it though and supressed her laughter. Hermione had certainly loosened up since they had both become friends.

**Williamson: We have accounts from your sister-**

**Lestrange: Which one?!**

**Williamson: I'm sorry?**

**Lestrange: As you should be you filthy Mudblood! I asked which one? Which one of my sisters is this account from?!**

**Williamson: Madam Malfoy.**

**Lestrange:...I see...Good.**

Fleur and Hermione read in silence - the only noise was when they turned the page to continue. When they got to the end of the interview, Fleur sighed and pushed the file away. She raked a hand through her hair in contemplation - face flushing when she saw Hermione looking at her, tongue darting out to wet her lips as she thought as well. 

The interview had taken a turn half way through when Lestrange admitted that the Longbottoms weren't her only victims. She also admitted to a string of related murders around the same time that the Aurors hadn't been able to connect to anybody. She practically relished in the way that she explained how she had taken them, branded them, set them free and hunted them down, tortured them and killed them with the killing curse.

"I zink zat Lestrange 'as some severe form of psychosis," Fleur said eventually.

"Definitely," Hermione agreed. She tapped the file a few times as she thought more. "My money is on schizophrenia or another personality disorder." She flicked through the file before finding the right page. "The way that she talks about her father, she's very..."

"Defensive," Fleur finished and Hermione nodded at her," She 'as a warped sense of love for 'er family. Ze way she says zat 'er sisters are 'er's. 'Even 'er 'blood traitor and disappointment of a sister'."

Hermione nodded again, opening her mouth to respond.

She didn't get the chance to because the doors to the library were flung open and a regal Apolline Delacour walked in. Hermione grabbed the file, slamming it shut before Fleur hastily tucked it into her jacket.

"Zis is where you two 'ave been 'iding!" Apolline said with a smile that didn't look that friendly. "I must say," She wrinkled her nose at the dusty tomes that surrounded the girls," Zis is not ze best make out spot. Fleur, my child, you could 'ave chosen a much better place to kiss your girlfriend!"

They had both since long given up outwardly arguing with Apolline about their supposed relationship.

"Now, zen," The half-Veela shook out her hair before levelling her blue eyes at both her child and Hermione," Girls, we 'ave a party to get ready for. Fleur, I 'ave 'ad ze 'ouse elves lay out your silver dress. 'Ermione, ma petite fille, come wiz me - we will get you a dress for ze ball."

* * *

Fleur had been to many Veela parties and had never once enjoyed them.

They were loud and crazy and Thrall hung in the air in an almost suffocating way that had her head reeling. Then add into the mix her odd profiling quirk and the party became near unbearable. Often, Fleur would wish that she could turn her mind off and just float elegantly from conversation to conversation like her mother and cousins were able to do. Gabrielle - excited as ever - had left her sister's side soon after they arrived in the ballroom. She had run off to play with a few of the younger cousins and relatives, leaving Fleur defenceless and cautiously stepping to the side of the room. She had collected herself a glass of champagne and resigned to sulk in the corner of the room until Hermione appeared - if only so they could sulk in the corner together.

Her mother had always enforced the stupid rule at balls that Veela were to arrive first and eagerly await the arrival of their human companions. All it meant was that the stupid ball would carry on longer than needed. Fleur huffed as she moodily took a large gulp of champagne and swallowed thickly. The magical band had picked up a tune and she breathed a sigh of relief when the doors to the ballroom were pushed open and the normal witches and wizards walked inside.

Fleur watched, like all of the other Veela, intently for her companion (also known as the only one that was keeping her sane during her visit home).

She saw Hermione dragging her feet at the back of the procession. Their eyes met each other and Hermione broke away from the group and hurried to where Fleur was standing, waiting for her. Fleur, however, could hardly form a rational thought in her mind.

As much as she had an estranged relationship with her mother, Fleur could admit one thing. Apolline Delacour definitely knew how to dress somebody.

The dress that Hermione was wearing was beautiful. Made of floaty periwinkle material, it gave the other profiler an air of elegance as she headed to where Fleur was standing. Able to finally form a thought, Fleur had the foresight to grab another glass of champagne and pressed it into Hermione's hands the moment the girl joined her. Hermione nearly drained it in one go before sighing loudly.

"I have sat through all of Ginny's makeup phases," She said in exasperation," But she doesn't hold a candle to your relatives, Fleur."

"Oui," Fleur said, a little breathless as she stared at Hermione," Veela 'ave a 'abit of choosing people who relish looking good."

"Yeah," Hermione scoffed," Understatement of the century right there - I've never been so poked and prodded before in my life!"

They shared a laugh as the dancing began. 

Apolline stood on a slightly raised platform and overlooked the crowds as they danced and twirled. She looked like a regal queen, chin tilted upwards as she watched everybody move about and socialise - although both Fleur and Hermione could feel the weight of her stare when she noticed them hiding in the corner.

"She's watching us."

Both girls were on their third glasses of champagne and had been mostly uninterrupted since the evening had begun. Gabrielle had come over once or twice, bouncing between them and smiling at the pair like she couldn't comprehend how amazing they were. She had left soon after though, running off and giggling with her relatives, occasionally throwing a glance back at the anti-social pair that seemed to be having more fun in each other's company than anybody else's.

Gabrielle was content to allow her sister and her girlfriend time to themselves - in the back of the room without anymore interruptions.

Apolline, however, wasn't.

"Ma fille," She chided Fleur lightly when she finally got to the pair," Why are you and 'Ermione not dancing? You two make such a lovely pair. Dancing togezzer would be so nice."

Fleur and Hermione exchanged a look that was slowly becoming second nature to them.

"Maman," Fleur's voice was slow and calculated, hardened from the many times that she had argued with her mother in the past," We are fine 'ere."

"Non, non," Apolline waved away her daughter's excuses," Zis is a party - you must dance wiz your girlfriend, Fleur."

Hermione and Fleur exchanged another look, communicating with barely a noise said between them.

"One dance," Fleur relented to her mother.

"Of course," Apolline said with a smile that made it clear that she would try and pressure them into dancing again later.

Instead of addressing that little fact now, Fleur took Hermione's hand and lead her to the dance floor.

"I should say," Hermione said with a little laugh and a small blush when Fleur placed her hands on the younger witch's hip," That I really have no clue how to dance."

"Zat is fine," Fleur said as she tried to ignore the knowing stares that they were receiving from the family," We can just sway to ze beat."

They did just that, sway aimlessly on the edges of the dance floor together as the band played a slow song. Apolline's eagle eyes watched their every move, relaxing slightly with every little laugh that her daughter and Hermione shared with each other.

* * *

Ducking through the crowd after the song ended, Fleur grasped Hermione's hand tightly. They weaved through a pack of young Veela children and sidestepped a group of Fleur's eager cousins - who were poised and ready to leap upon the pair. Apolline's light footsteps could be heard behind them and Fleur pushed her way forward - Hermione more than content to being pulled along in a last attempt to get away.

"Hurry," Hermione murmured," She's right behind us."

Fleur felt a burst of speed take hold and managed to weave through some more relatives - losing her mother in the throng of the crowd. "We can not stay in 'ere," She whispered as they managed to get to a secluded area of the ballroom. "Maman will find us at some point."

Hermione nodded in agreement, looking curiously at their still joined hands. "Where can we go then?" 

"I 'ave an idea," Fleur said softly," Come on, one of ze balcony's should be open."

Fleur was right, one of them was.

They both leaned against the marble railings and breathed twin sighs of relief. They had shut the doors the moment they had entered and, hopefully, Apolline wouldn't find them for a while. The entire balcony had been decked out in little jars full of orbs of light. Flowers hung over the railings and trails of petals fanned outwards from the now closed doors.

"Hey," Hermione said softly as they stood side by side," I wanted to thank you, Fleur."

"Zank me? For what?"

"Letting me tag along," Hermione shrugged and wrung her hands together," This definitely beats staying at the Cottage for another year."

Fleur gazed down at her partner with a smile. "I am glad zat you are enjoying yourself."

Hermione looked up to meet her eyes and smiled as well. She stood up on her tiptoes and she pressed a kiss to Fleur's cheek.

"I mean it, Fleur," She said as she pulled away," Thank you."

* * *

Sleep had managed to evade Fleur after the ball had finished. She tossed and turned in her bed and had even gotten up to pace around her bedroom. It hadn't helped at all.

Hermione had been positively exhausted from the activities of the ball (and their constant evasion of Apolline) and had all but collapsed onto the bed the moment that she had changed into her sleep clothes. Curling up into a tight ball while hugging a pillow, seemed to be Hermione's usual sleep position. She was practically dead to the world, occasionally moving around or mumbling under her breath. Her hair was fanned out behind her and Fleur smiled, brushing stray strands of brown hair off of the girl's brow.

Hermione leaned into the touch slightly and Fleur didn't need to look into a mirror to know that she was blushing.

As Fleur rose to her feet, she huffed and crossed the room to her desk. She pulled her jacket off of the back of her chair and slipped it on. Pulling on her old flying boots, Fleur disappeared from her room. 

It was one of the first times that the manor had been so quiet...or, well...Fleur coughed awkwardly when she passed the locked room of one of her married aunts - the...loud noises from inside told Fleur all she needed to know about the activities that were happening inside. But, in the hallways of Delacour manor, there was silence. It was a welcome silence, reminiscent of the silence in the hallways of Shell Cottage when Fleur would get up to have a midnight snack - only to be caught by Moody, who would mutter threats under his breath before fixing Fleur with a grimace-like smile before warning her not to take any of Theo's sweets.

She wasn't entirely sure where she was going but she soon found herself walking down the path of the manor towards the stables. She had only taken Melinoe out once for a ride since the start of her visit. That had been with Hermione joining them, sitting on the back with her arms wrapped around Fleur's waist tightly - screaming loudly when suddenly Melinoe took off like a shot and galloped into the nearby forest.

Fleur nearly burst out laughing at that memory as she approached her unicorn's paddock.

Melinoe lifted her head up when she sensed Fleur's arrival, whinnying lightly as Fleur slipped inside.

" 'Ello, Melinoe," She said as she took a seat next to her mount, resting her head on the back of the stall," I am sorry zat I 'ave not been around recently but, 'ere, I will make it up to you." She pulled an apple out of her pocket and hand fed it to a very happy unicorn who nickered in approval. Fleur sighed again. "Say, Melinoe, if you were in my situation, what would you do?" The unicorn looked at her in confusion.

"I mean," Fleur cleared her throat," Say zat you were attracted to anozzer unicorn - a female one, of course - and for most of your time togezzer, she - ze ozzer female unicorn, zat is - 'as been doing zis 'ot and cold act wiz you. Sometimes she's really sweet and you laugh together and you eat biscui- I mean, 'ay togezzer. But ozzer times, she acts like you do not exist. But zen you take a trip back 'ome - I mean anozzer paddock. You go on a trip togezzer and she is even better zan what you zought she was. You are so completely and horribly attracted to 'er zat you can barely sleep in ze same room. What do you do?"

Melinoe nickered and rested her head on Fleur's lap, moving her neck until her horn lightly tapped her owner's shoulder a few times.

"What?!" Fleur demanded, rubbing the back of her neck with a small smile," Zis is purely 'ypothetical, Melinoe. It 'as no'zzing to do wiz me. Why are you looking at me like zat?!"

Melinoe whinnied loudly before huffing, blowing a puff of warm air into Fleur's face. She levelled a pointed look at her owner's face - or, as pointed a look as a unicorn could give somebody.

"You are right!" Fleur leapt to her feet - shocking Melinoe into standing as well. "Zank you so much, Melinoe! You are ze best unicorn ever and I will give Gabby orders to feed you more apples while I am away!"

* * *

_Your hands are covered in cuts from when you broke your mirror._

_Your co-workers have noticed but you play if off that you hurt them on accident._

_You continue on with your work._

_Your work is stressful now and you're so exhausted that you just want to sleep._

_You don't though._

_You'll sleep later, when you need enough energy for your grand finale._

_You huff as you tap the report in front of you, full of documents you need for a meeting with your boss._

_You sigh as your eyelids droop._

_You're so tired but you stay awake._

_You load your mug up with coffee and take a deep drink of the beverage._

_You stand up when your name is called and walk into the meeting room with confidence._

_You're ready for this._

_You know what you're saying, how to explain everything._

_It will nearly be time to finish it all._

_When it is, you know that you will never walk into this meeting room again._


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione and Fleur return home.  
> During duelling class, Fleur finds out something she doesn't like.  
> Harry and Fleur make a mess.

The return back home, was a welcome one.

Fleur and Hermione apparated back to Shell Cottage after being escorted to the French Ministry by Fleur's multitudes of relatives to catch their portkey back to London. 

The path was just as they remembered it, slightly overgrown but cared for nonetheless. Nobody would ever believe them if they let it slip that Moody, in his retirement, had become something of an amateur gardener. He took a lot of care as he grew all sorts of dangerous plants.

"Look who's dragged their sorry asses back home. I, for one, can confidently say that neither of you were missed." They heard Ginny before they saw her and, despite everything, Fleur couldn't help but smile. Ginny's snarky voice and rude comments had certainly grown on her.

Ginny rounded the corner that separated the front of the house from the little path that lead to the beach. She was wearing flying robes and had a mud splattered broom resting on her shoulder. Ginny was looking at them from under long lashes and narrowed eyes but her face soon morphed into a fond smile.

Hermione stepped away from Fleur and approached the ginger girl. "Don't lie to yourself," She said as she pulled Ginny into a tight hug - which the other girl reciprocated after a moment. "I know that you missed us. Who else would make your boring life so fun?"

Ginny pulled away suddenly and reached her hand up to press against Hermione's forehead. She then turned the girl's head around a bit before placing a dramatic hand on her chest. "Are you sick, 'Mione?" She mock gasped. "You just made a joke! You must be poorly!"

Hermione bat Ginny's hands away as she stepped back into rank with Fleur. "Don't be an ass."

Ginny just rolled her eyes, nodded in Fleur's direction before turning on her heel and barging her way back into the house.

"Come on," Fleur said," We might as well let everybody else know zat we 'ave returned."

Hermione sighed loudly at that before shouldering her suitcase and following Ginny inside.

The reunion with their guardian went well. Moody gruffly checked over both girls for injuries before moving away after ruffling their hair and letting them know that Harry and Ginny were being damn near unbearable to live with, without everybody else in the Cottage to act as buffers.

The reunion of the Naturals was a tad more chaotic. They resigned themselves to the games room when Moody had enough of what he called 'incessant chatter' in the living room.

Harry and Ginny reclaimed the chaise while Theo hurried to the armchair. Luna sat on the other end of the sofa to Fleur - who kicked up her legs and placed them on Hermione's lap. At the younger girl's incredulous look at the interruption of her reading, Fleur just stuck her tongue out with a quirked eyebrow.

"-Then Daddy brought me to find some Nargles." Luna was recounting her holidays in a chipper tone that endeared everybody that heard it. "Not a lot of people know about Nargles," She finished," About nought point two percent of the magical population."

Theo shrugged. "Better than what I did," He admitted," Mother and Father had me attend a fancy dinner party with all of their other pureblood friends. It's so stifling to listen to their pompous bullshit on blood purity." He shuddered and clenched his fists in annoyance. "Not to mention Mother and Father constantly boasting about how I got my place in our special 'educational program'."

"Not gonna lie," Harry said as he messed up his hair," Me and Gin had a great holiday." He sent her a crooked grin and wiggled his eyes before bursting into laughter.

"Oh yes," Ginny said with a smirk," It was amazing."

Hermione took a long, drawn out sigh and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she raised her wand and pointed at Harry. "You're a great guy, Harry," She said with the barest hint of a smile," But if you make reference to making out or having sex with my pseudo-sister again, then I will have to hex you."

Harry laughed and pretended to flex his muscles. "I could take you!"

That prompted everybody to burst into laughter. 

Even Ginny didn't seem to have faith in him.

"No you couldn't!" She howled with laughter, clutching at her stomach.

"Fine," Harry huffed," But I bet that I could beat Fleur in a duel!"

* * *

Fleur twirled her wand and knocked Harry off of his feet. "Expelliarmus!" She cried and his wand shot into her hand - deftly catching it. Moody clunked his way forward with grumbles under his breath. He pulled Harry to his feet, checked him over before nodding once.

"You're alright, lad," He said, patting Harry down once more," Your offence is good but you need to follow through. Keep your feet planted and it'll be harder for her to push you back." He held his hand out and Fleur put Harry's wand into it. "Good work, girly," He said to her," Good offence, did a good job of keeping him off guard with the amount of spells but, your defence could use some work. Patchy in some places but works all the same. You're both dismissed for a while, take a break, rehydrate and make sure that you're back in fifteen minutes."

"Look at them," Ginny huffed as Fleur sat next to her on the beach. A few feet away, Hermione and Theo were duelling together - spells bouncing harmlessly off of each other as they traded blows," They're a dangerous pair. What's your professional profiling opinion of them? D'you think that Theo still has feelings for her?"

That hit Fleur like a blow and she physically recoiled. She looked towards them in shock. Honestly, she couldn't tell if Ginny was joking around.

Andromeda had once said that while Hermione was always focussed on details, Fleur always got the bigger picture - meaning that sometimes she missed certain details. It seemed that Hermione's relationship status was one of them.

"Zey were dating?"

"On and off again thing," Ginny shrugged, looking more truthful than she ever had been before," It's kind of a destructive circle. Theo's our sketch artist, as you know, but he sees more than that. He says resemblances between people, imperfections on the skin and stuff. He sees all of Hermione's scars, every old one and every new one. Hermione automatically see the worst in people - profiling how violent they are. It's the way that she grew up as a kid. He gets her to try and open up, she refuses to and brings up his insecurities. They're bad for each other and Hermione hasn't allowed them to get back together for almost a year and a half now."

"I zink," Fleur said slowly as she watched them," Zat 'Ermione is waiting for an opening." She purposely didn't answer Ginny's question - mainly because she didn't one to face the implications is Theo still had feelings for Hermione.

They circled around each other like a pair of predators. Every step Theo took closer, Hermione took one away. Neither of them had thrown a spell in a while and everybody could see that Moody was getting impatient waiting. Fleur noticed the moment Theo slipped up. He took a large step forward and had just finished the incantation of the stinging hex. The jet of bright yellow light glanced off Hermione without any sort of notice as she pushed a body bind curse through her wand and Theo tumbled to the ground.

"How?" He breathed out with a laugh and Fleur felt a pang of jealousy at the smile Hermione graced him with.

She chuckled lightly and pulled back her collar. Fleur leaned forward to get a glimpse of what it was. A rune was painted on her neck - Fleur wasn't sure sure if the origins of the rune was Elder Futhark or Proto-Germanic due to the fact that she used to skip her ancient runes classes but she could recognise it is a defensive marking.

"Ah-ha!" Moody said as he hobbled forward," That should be a lesson to you all! Always prepare yourself! Good work, girly."

Duelling practice continued on for a few more hours before they were all dismissed - he loudly proclaimed that they would be resuming duels after lunch. Luna hurried back to the house as did Moody. Harry and Ginny chose to remain on the beach, pressed up together so Fleur couldn't tell where one body started and the other ended.

"Fleur!"

The Veela whirled around and came face to face with a smiling Hermione. She was slightly out of breath, having run up the path to get to her. "Where're you going?"

"Inside," Fleur made a point to not look behind her, to where Ginny and Theo were watching the pair's interaction, "Why?"

"Oh!" Hermione's cheeks coloured and she looked down, bashfully kicking her foot out. "I was just, er, wondering if you wanted to hang out later...after lessons. We could raid the kitchen again and just chat."

Fleur made the mistake of glancing over Hermione's shoulder - straight into Theo's narrowed eyes. "Maybe tomorrow?" She offered weakly, trying to ignore the way that Hermione's face fell.

"Right," Hermione said awkwardly," Yeah, tomorrow. Tomorrow is good. Well, I should, er, I should let you go."

* * *

Fleur's mind was reeling as she escaped back into the cottage after the day's lessons had been finished. The more she thought about Hermione and Theo's interactions, the more she beat herself up for not noticing it earlier. They used to be close, they looked like they knew each other's secrets or at least, they used to. Theo's annoyance and irritation during truth or dare finally made sense and the way that he knew how to push Hermione in a duel - to give her a proper fight.

Try as she might, even the next day, Fleur couldn't help but wonder how many kisses they had shared with each other, if Theo had ever seen the completely unguarded version of Hermione that Fleur saw during their week in France together. At every question, her mind brought her back to the kiss during truth or dare and the soft press of Hermione's lips on her cheek on the balcony of the Delacour Manor.

Fleur's face reddened as she slumped on a stool at the kitchen island. Ginny must have raided the ice cream stores again because there was none for Fleur to drown her sorrows using.

"The inner corners of your eyebrows are drawn up - you're sad. But you're also biting your inside cheek - which means that you're annoyed as well. What's up?" Harry finished his little by drawing up a stool and sitting down opposite the Veela. "And you're distressed. You've got feathers sprouting at your hairline." Fleur clasped her hands to her hair and, sure enough, downy feathers were in her palms when she pulled away. She crushed them in her hands.

"You 'ave brushed up on your Veela knowledge," She said humourlessly.

Harry shrugged. "Hermione gave me orders to. She's already done the same."

Fleur froze then, tentatively looking up.

Harry was smiling at her and shrugged again. "Was it something Ginny said? Merlin, I love the girl but she's never taken to the idea that some things are better left unsaid."

"Oui," Fleur admitted with a huff," It was somezing Ginny said. It does not matter."

"You sure?"

"Oui."

"Fine," Harry said. He pushed away from the island and smiled. "If you won't tell me, then I guess I'll just have to give you a distraction instead."

"Distraction?"

"Come on!" He laughed," Luna's not the only one allowed in the basement!"

Five minutes later, had Fleur scurrying back from the kitchen set in the basement. She lit the piece of rope with a flame from the end of her wand. It streaked down the rope, setting it alight before finally triggering a Muggle bomb. It amazed Fleur sometimes, how Muggles had gotten through life without the help of magic.

Blowing things up was strangely therapeutic.

Behind the pair, were the smoking remains of other sets. Two bedrooms had been destroyed and several bathroom sets were still smoking in the background.

"You know," Fleur said with a smile," I do not zink zis was what Amelia 'ad in mind when she built zis basement."

Harry shrugged as he howled with laughter and stemmed the flames with a shot of water from his wand. He then adopted a look similar to Amelia. "Simulation is one of our most powerful tools." He also did a pretty good imitation of her voice. "How else are we supposed to envision the work of the famous Boom-Boom Bandit?"

"Boom-Boom bandit?" Fleur quirked an eyebrow.

"Too much?"

"A little bit."

Behind them, the basement door swung open and slammed shut with a deafening sound. Harry and Fleur whipped around to face the newcomer. Harry had assured her that the basement was soundproof - both through magical and Muggle methods - but Fleur still suspected that it might have been Moody arriving to demand what the hell they were doing with the equipment.

"I didn't know that there were other people in here." Luna eyed them suspiciously, head tilted the side in confusion. "What _are_ you doing down here?"

Harry and Fleur exchanged a look. Fleur opened her mouth to respond but didn't get the chance as Luna took in the evidence around her.

"Muggle explosives?" She demanded, arms crossed over her chest as she stared at them. "In the kitchen?"

"Fleur needed a distraction!" Harry said quickly, pointing at her with a rugged smile that had Fleur childishly sticking her tongue out at him.

"Sorry?" She offered up to Luna. It made sense that she was annoyed at their treatment of the simulation sets - she was the only one that used them in her work.

"You should be," Luna replied sternly," You're doing it wrong, anyway."

That lead to a fifteen minute lecture of Muggle science and pyro-dynamics and an uncountable amount of explosions.

"Ha!" Harry laughed as Luna set off the last explosive. He surveyed their work. "That'll teach Andromeda and Amelia to leave us to our own devices for two long."

"Zey are working on a case," Fleur reminded him softly," I zink zat takes precedence over teaching us."

"Luna," Harry said suddenly, brow furrowing as he tilted his head and stared at the girl in confusion.

"Nothing," Luna said quickly - too quickly.

"What?" Fleur said, glancing between them. Luna was shifting on the balls of her feet, unwilling to meet either of their eyes as she played with her hands," Luna, what is it?"

"When I said Andromeda's name, Luna looked to the side and down. Her eyebrows pulled up in the centre and she bit the inside of her lip." Harry paused. His voice became softer when he spoke again. "What did you take, Luna?"

"Amelia and Andromeda visited in the holidays," Luna made an in depth study of her fingernails as she rocked back a forth," Andromeda had a briefcase - it had a USB drive in it."

Harry's eyes lit up in shock and then happiness. "Am I to infer that you have said USB drive now?"

Luna shrugged. "There is a distinct possibility of that question being answered with an affirmative."

Fleur processed the information slowly. When Ginny raided her wardrobe, she had made reference to Luna being a kleptomaniac. Fleur thought that she had been joking and Luna had played along because that was what social cues prompted her to do. Apparently not. "You took Andromeda's USB drive?"

"Let's concentrate on the important thing here," Harry's voice was hushed but rich with excitement," What do you ladies wonder is on a USB stick that Andromeda was carrying around while she works on a case?"

Fleur glanced at Luna and then Harry. "You zink it 'as somezing to do wiz zeir case?" There was a surge of interest in her tone.

"That is also a distinct possibility." Luna sounded more chipper than before.

Harry threw an arm over her shoulder. "Have I ever told you that you're my favourite?" He threw his other arm over Fleur's shoulder and gave her a grin. "D'you still need a distraction?"

* * *

_Last night, you woke up in a cold sweat and bolted upright in bed._

_You were having another nightmare._

_Of him._

_Of her - all three of them._

_It had all seemed so real._

_You could hear the whistling of the air as he raised his hand at you._

_You could hear her laughter._

_You could hear both of their screams._

_But there was nobody there to punish you when you woke up._

_No._

_You were the one that did the punishing now._

_Your father is dead but you are not._

_But it's never enough._

_The neighbours Crup._

_The whores._

_The seer._

_You open the bathroom cabinet._

_You run your hands, one by one, over the lipsticks - remembering each of the girls._

_It's exciting._

_Calming._

_Soothing._

_You hand reaches the back and you clutch the first one - the oldest tube._

_You know what you want._

_You know what you need._

_You've known for a while now._

_All that's left to do now is to take it._


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luna, Harry and Fleur look through a case  
> Hermione and Fleur finally get their act together

"This encryption is pathetic," Luna said absentmindedly," It's like they want me to hack their files." For somebody who was raised in the wizarding world, Luna was quite adept at using Muggle devices. Fleur was too, to an extent. It seemed that the program encouraged it - learning how to combine both Muggle and Wizarding inventions. She had to admit though, sometimes Muggles just knew how to make things more efficient. This laptop thing was a prime example of this.

In the back of Fleur's mind, she couldn't help but wonder if what they were doing was okay. "What if zis is important? What if zey need zis?" She had to voice her concerns - if only to prove that she did.

Harry shrugged from where he was staring at Luna working. "Does Amelia look like the type of person that gives the only copy of her files to somebody other than herself?"

"Non."

Amelia was the type of person who had backups of her backup files - locked in a safe somewhere where only she knew the location.

"Done," Luna said, cutting through the tension easily as the files appeared on the USB drive," Nine documents."

"Nine victims." Harry voiced what they were all thinking.

"Should I print them off?"

"Your call, Fleur," Harry turned to her.

"Why is it my call?!"

"You're the oldest," He reminded her.

"Fine," She grumbled under her breath. She had a choice here, she could choose to say no, not to get involved and have Luna return the USB drive the next time Andromeda appeared. That was clearly the right choice, the safe choice. Fleur looked at Luna and nodded. "Print zem."

So she did.

The printer in the corner of their room sprung to life and nine documents were printed.

"Three of each of us," Luna said happily," Division of labour."

They read through the documents in silence. It was no longer a comfortable silence anymore. It was tense and Fleur felt like one wrong move would set them all off.

"The first victim was from Scotland. She worked two days before being taken and was found in an alley a week later. They found her with her face carved up and symbols on her back."

"Zis one is ze next one," Fleur put in absentmindedly - placing the photos in between the three of them," Four days after ze first was found. Facial mutilation, died of blood loss, superficial cuts everywhere. Similar symbols on 'er back."

"This would take time," Luna said, face pale," Hours, not minutes and according to the Healer reports, the damage is severe and the victim had blood replenishing potions in their system."

"Merlin," Harry managed to choke out," He's playing with them. He takes them. He tortures them - he watches them suffer. Then, he lets them die and carves symbols into their back."

"Do not say _he,"_ Fleur didn't realising what she was saying until after she had said it," Say _you_ or _I."_ It was reflex now - to say those words.

She was met with slightly scared and confused looks from Harry and Luna.

"I mean," She coughed awkwardly," Say ze killer or ze UNSUB - unknown subject."

"I can think of worse things to call him," Harry muttered," Who has the next file?"

"Me," Luna said. Fleur glanced at her and was struck by how quiet she was, how young she looked but Luna changed back to normal in a fraction of a second. " She was a seer in Essex." Fleur thought that she might have put the file down but Luna kept holding it. "Did you know that witches are twelve percent more likely to have a touch of the sight than wizards?" She took refuge in her numbers.

They checked through the rest of the files in relative silence before sighing in sync.

"Two types of victims," Harry offered up as he moved the documents into two piles," Runaways, prostitutes and drifters." He placed all those that applied into one column. "And people who have weak magical ability."

Fleur glanced at the pictures on the carpeted floor of her shared bedroom. She looked for commonalities, something to tie them all together - a cohesive picture. "Zey are all young," She said finally," Nineteen to twenty-five."

"Two classes of victims," Harry said, staring right at Fleur," D'you think that we're looking for two killers?"

Fleur shook her head. "Non. Ze MO is too similar, ze urges are ze same."

That garnered odd looks from her companions but neither of them questioned it. Luna could generate the relevant statistics and, if there had been testimonies, then Harry could have reported on who was exhibiting signs of guilt. But now, as the three of them sat on the floor together, this was Fleur's domain. She would have to backtrack if she wanted to explain it, let them know every little detail that she had picked up on to come to her conclusion but she was certain. What had been done to all nine of the women, it was the same. Not just the symbols, but the weapon as well and the anger - the urges.

"These six have brown hair," Harry separated four of the girls from the runaway pile and two from the other.

"The squib has brown hair," Luna put in, removing another picture and handing it to Harry

"Ze squib 'as blonde 'air," Fleur said, staring at it.

"Naturally blonde," Luna explained, rummaging around behind her. She placed a second, gruesome picture in front of the pair of them. She was right, of course. It was the after picture of the Squib that had been found on the streets. "But had a recent dye job. Can't have been more than a few hours old."

"Zey all 'ave grey eyes," Fleur put in. She didn't know how it would help but she was adamant that it wasn't a coincidence. This killer didn't do coincidences.

"Grey eyes aren't actually real," Luna said softly, trying to take her mind off of the horrific pictures in front of her," And neither are blue eyes. Eye colour is caused by a pigment called melanin. If you have lots of melanin then you have brown eyes but any other colour is just the colour of your eye cells behind your iris." She laughed nervously. "Did you know that only six people in every one thousand has heterochromia?"

"Thanks Luna," Harry said, fondness leaking into his tone," That was very helpful."

Luna smiled at him.

"So," He continued on," The killer is killing people with eyes that lack melanin and has a preference for brown hair."

"That's not a pattern," Luna said peevishly," That's two patterns."

Fleur looked over the files again. She moved them into different piles, changing them every so often - trying to find something else that linked them all together. She stared at them long and hard, focussing on every detail of the pictures, every word in the reports until only three things stood out.

_Knife._

_Grey eyes._

_Young._

Across from her, Luna and Harry debated their theories. Fleur could barely hear them as she stared at the documents. She focussed on one of the squibs - another one of the runaways. She was the preferred type of the killer, striking grey eyes and curly brown hair. She was young, about nineteen.

Fleur jolted suddenly when Hermione's voice drifted through her mind. They had talked more about their childhoods during their stay in France. _"My Mum was young when she had me,"_ Hermione had admitted in the darkness of Fleur's room as she lay next to the Veela girl," _About nineteen. She ran away from home and stayed with my Dad - said that it was half his fault because he had knocked her up."_

From this angle, the runaway Squib looked exactly what Fleur envisioned Hermione's mother to look like at that age. The eyes. The facial structure. The curly hair.

She glanced at the Squib from earlier - the one that Luna had said was a natural blonde, the one that had dyed her hair recently.

"She did not," Fleur breathed out, attracting the attentions of her companions," I do not zink she dyed 'er 'air - I zink zat ze killer did. Merlin," She scanned all of the pictures one by one, refiling through them at high speed," Zey all look like 'er."

"Who?" Harry asked, brow wrinkled.

Fleur didn't respond, jumping to her feet and dropping the photos like they had shocked her. "I need to go - I need to talk to 'Ermione."

"Fleur," Harry said, softer than before," Are you okay? You're panicking - your breathing is ragged and, and you're- you look like you want to scream."

She didn't answer, instead walking towards the door with the sort of calm control that would have made her mother proud of her, and slipped out of the room to find Hermione.

* * *

Fleur's cool control snapped the moment that she was out of Harry's sight. Her throat constricted and, for a brief moment, she wondered if she was overreacting - jumping to conclusions, making connections to something that was completely unrelated. But, no. Fleur couldn't tell what it was but her gut was pressing her forward. 

She dashed to Hermione's side of the house - flinging open her bedroom door without even knocking. The girl was nowhere to be seen. Fleur let out a growl of annoyance, feeling a few feathers sprout out her hairline. Harry had been right earlier - her breathing was ragged, completely out of control as she dashed through every open room in the house.

"Fleur!"

She whipped around suddenly at the sound of her name being called. Hermione was standing at the other end of the hallway, panting slightly as she jogged up to the elder girl.

"Hermione!" Fleur cried back. She couldn't help but tug Hermione into a tight hug - mind still whirring about the assumptions that she had made earlier.

"I need to talk to you." She practically took the words from Fleur's mouth, pulling away and speaking with urgency.

"So do I," Fleur panted," I need to tell-"

"No!" Hermione exclaimed," I need to go first, okay? Okay, Fleur?!"

Fleur furrowed her brows, opening her mouth to argue before closing it again and nodding. "Go on," She prompted.

"Right," Hermione took a long, drawn out breath," I need to come clean about something." She clenched her fists and Fleur cocked her head to the side. "I like you...As in... _like_ you. As in, you are one of the most attractive people in the whole world and I would very much like to touch your lips...with my lips. Ah! Crap, why did I say that? I meant to say, that I would like to kiss you...in a romantic way...on the lips." There was silence between the girls before Hermione took another steadying breath. "And I don't know what I did yesterday, during the duels, to make you mad at me but I am so sorry and, please Fleur, tell me how to make it up to you because I really like spending time with you. Yeah, that's, er, what I wanted to say." Her words came out like an avalanche. Once she started speaking, she could barely stop.

Fleur froze. She was sure that her mind was playing tricks on her because of the stress that she had put it through. "I...What?"

She watched as Hermione swallowed thickly - throat bobbing as she did so. 

Hermione reached forward in one fluid movement and cradled Fleur's face, pulling the taller girl down and crashing their lips together.

All thoughts of the file, Fleur's pressing need to tell Hermione what she thought, left her mind completely. Hermione's lips were soft as they kissed. Tingles shot through Fleur's body as she reached forward - one hand on Hermione's shoulder and the other tangled in her curly hair. They were impossibly close to each other - so close that it would be difficult to tell where one body ended and the other began.

This kiss had nothing on the swift peck on her cheek or the short kiss that they had shared under the watchful gaze of their fellow Naturals during Truth or Dare.

"Sorry." Hermione pulled away suddenly, blush adorning her features and Fleur had half a mind to pull Hermione back into her grip - to share another kiss. "I think that I've read the signs wrong. We can just ignore that this happened and-"

"Non," Fleur said firmly, reaching forward and looping her arms around Hermione's waist.

"Huh?"

"You 'ave not 'read ze signs wrong'. I am very much attracted to you 'Ermione and- and I would like no'zing more zan to kiss you again."

So she did, dipping her neck down to press another soft, lingering kiss upon Hermione's lips.

The younger girl's breathing stilled momentarily - like she couldn't believe that this was real - before kissing back.

They both pulled away reluctantly, panting and looking at each other with hooded eyes.

Hermione coughed awkwardly. "Sorry, I had to get that off of my chest," She said," You said that you needed to talk to me?"

Fleur froze again, teeth worrying her bottom lip.

"Oh no," Hermione said," What is it? What's happened? Who got hurt?"

"Nobody! Nobody got 'urt but-" Fleur grimaced," Luna may 'ave stolen Andromeda's USB and we printed off ze case and-"

"Oh," Hermione said, noticeably more calm," I thought that Ginny accidentally duplicated herself again."

"Again?"

"Long story," Hermione groaned with a fond smile," But, what's wrong? Is it something to do with the case?"

"I am afraid so," Fleur bit her bottom lip," 'Ermione, 'ypothetically, if somebody came to you and told you zat zey may 'ave found somezing to do wiz ze deaz' of your mozzer even if ze correlation was nearly non-existent?"

"I suppose," Hermione said slowly," That I would want to know everything. Wait...Fleur are you telling me..?"

"Oui."

"Can you start from the beginning?"

So, Fleur did.

The words spilled from her mouth unchecked. She explained everything about Luna printing off the files, the three of them going through it together, trying to work out motives, a pattern. Then Fleur came clean about her theory that they were stand ins for somebody else with curly brown hair and grey eyes - Hermione's mother.

"I know it sounds completely crazy," Fleur spluttered out when Hermione stood in front of her in silence," But-"

"Do you want me to check?"

"Oui," Fleur breathed out.

"Okay."

"Just like zat?" She tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"Fleur," Hermione said as she expelled a lungful of air," I trust you and," She swallowed," I would like to think that we're together now, dating, I mean. Please, am I wrong in that assumption?"

"N-Non," Fleur said, dipping down to press a soft kiss to Hermione's lips," I would like it if you were my girlfriend."

"Then, yes," Hermione shrugged," Just like that. I'll look at it."

"Zank you," Fleur rested their foreheads together," I will get it from 'Arry."

* * *

_It had been a while since you've done this and you almost forgot that it made you feel so good - so free._

_All of the other's weren't the same - copies of a copy._

_But now you're close - so close._

_There's a smile on your face as you pick up your scissors._

_The girl on the floor is awake but you hit her with a silencing spell._

_She's kicking at you - thrashing in your impossibly tight grip._

_You ignore her._

_You raise the scissors._

_You grab her by the back of her head and slam her into the floor._

_Her eyes go glassy as you do it again._

_She goes limp and you smile even wider._

_You raise the scissors again._

_You cut a lock of hair off._

_Then you cut her._


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amelia stops by the house.  
> Fleur and Hermione have a talk about the case

" 'Arry," Fleur called as she stepped into the kitchen after searching the house for the boy," Can I 'ave ze-" She broke off immediately when she found that Harry and Luna weren't the only ones there. Moody stood at the stove, making another seaweed dish in a pan. Amelia stood in the middle of the room, back to Fleur and briefcase sitting neatly by her feet.

"-Ze sandwich," She finished hastily - almost wincing at how bad the lie sounded in her ears.

Amelia turned to face her. "Fleur, why does Harry have your sandwich?"

As if the whole situation wasn't awkward enough, Ginny sauntered into the room - looking like the cat that caught the canary. She lowered herself onto Harry's lap, kissed his temple before leaning on the countertop, eyebrow arched and smirk on her face. "Oh yes, Fleur," She taunted," Please, enlighten us to why Harry has your _sandwich."_

"Ginny," Moody said, waving a wooden spoon in her general direction," Drop it." Then he turned to Fleur. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Do you think that you could wait for then?"

"Oui," Fleur said," No sandwich needed."

Over Amelia's shoulder, Harry mimed smacking his forehead with his palm. It was obvious that her attempts at misdirection left a lot to be desired. Fleur tried to make a hasty exit, quickly turning on her heel to get back to Hermione but Amelia's words stopped her in her tracks.

"Fleur," She said," A word."

Fleur cringed at that, freezing mid-step and swallowing thickly. She glanced at Harry and Luna - wondering what, if anything, Amelia knew about what the three of them had been doing.

"Euphoria," Luna said suddenly.

"This should be good," Ginny murmured.

"Amelia asked for a word. Euphoria, is a good one. Less than nought point five percent of words in the English language uses all five vowels."

Fleur was grateful for the distraction but, sadly, Amelia didn't bite at the hook Luna had tried to create. Instead, she inclined her head to the side and said," Fleur?"

"Oui," She said softly. She followed Amelia from the room. She wasn't sure where they were heading at first - perhaps the soundproofed basement or the games room - but after they passed library, Fleur realised where they were heading. The one place where she hadn't been allowed into since her arrival at Shell Cottage - Amelia's study.

She opened the door and gestured for Fleur to enter. Fleur walked into the room and took in her surroundings. The room was full of beasts, lifeless and frozen in place.

Hunting trophies.

There was a Cockatrice in the far corner - feathers puffed out, permanently frozen in a squawking position, head forward and body hunched forward. Above the desk, on a little ledge on the wall was a Wampus Cat - forever frozen in a prowling position. On the other side of the room, side by side, was a Horned Serpent and a Nundu.

The most unnerving thing about the room - the entire situation actually - was that Fleur hadn't pegged Amelia as a hunter.

"They're predators," Amelia said in a clipped tone as she leant against her desk, eyes narrowed and arms crossed. Fleur knew, without a doubt, that Amelia was aware of what had happened, how Fleur, Luna and Harry all knew the details of the case that she and Andromeda were working on. "It's a reminder of what my team is hunting whenever we get a case."

Fleur couldn't look her in the eyes. While she was never trained by Amelia and they rarely interacted, the Auror was the one that had brought Fleur into the program. Amelia had been the one to turn up in Madam Maxime's office a few weeks before the Christmas holidays and demand to see Fleur - who had to be pulled out of class. It was unknown how she had gotten flagged into whatever odd system that selected members of the program but it had been Amelia who had come to give her the choice. There was a part of Fleur, the childish part of her that strived to do as her father said, that felt bad for disappointing Amelia like this while the other part was still working on overdrive as she wondered how she was going to get the files to Hermione.

" 'Ow did you find out?" She asked softly, eyes still staring at her feet.

"Mad-eye," Amelia sighed," He may fade into the background most of them but information gathering has always been one of his strong suits." Keeping her eyes on Fleur, Amelia's hands dipped into her briefcase and pulled out sheets of paper - the same documents that had been scattered all over Luna and Fleur's bedroom floor. "I confiscated these," She waved the papers," From Harry and Luna's laptop," She inclined her head to her briefcase," Will be taking a little trip to the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts to have all evidence of the case wiped from its memory."

Fleur didn't even get the chance to talk about her suspicions before Amelia sighed again. She looked tired, barely keeping her eyes open and her hair was a mess also - looking like it hadn't been brushed in days, pulled up into a tight bun in an attempt to look professional.

"Ze case is not going well," Fleur said softly," Is it?"

"I need you to listen to what I'm saying, Fleur."

They held each other's eyes for a few seconds before Amelia sighed, rubbing a shaky hand over her face.

"When I came to see you at school," Amelia said slowly," I was up front and completely transparent about what this program is and what we do. But the Auror Department isn't about to authorise using a bunch of teenagers on active cases."

"Ze department may not," Fleur hissed back," But zat did not stop you from using an eleven year old 'Ermione on cases. But, oh no, ze program is official now, is it not? So you can no longer do so."

"What I'm saying," Amelia stressed," Is that this UNSUB is dangerous. Operating in Devon and I have no plans of involving any of you."

"Even 'Ermione?" Fleur was nothing if not stubborn. "Even if zis case 'as somezing to do wiz 'er mozzer?"

Amelia paused. "You're jumping to conclusions." She didn't ask how Fleur had come to that conclusion, didn't ask why she thought that it had something to do with Hermione's mother. Now that she had brought it up, Amelia didn't have to. "It's not enough. The age. The hair. The eyes."

"Ze UNSUB dyed ze latest victims 'air." Fleur didn't bother asking if she was right - something in her gut told her that she was. "Zat is above and beyond - as you English like to say - victim selection. It is not just MO anymore. It is part of ze signature."

Amelia re-crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not talking to you about this anymore. Fleur, drop it."

But she didn't leave the room, she didn't walk away.

"Did ze UNSUB dye 'er 'air before or after ze murder?"

Amelia didn't say anything. She was playing it by the book, not telling Fleur anything more - but not stopping her from talking.

"Dying ze 'air before making ze kill could be an attempt to create a more ideal target. But dying 'er 'air afterwards." Fleur paused, just long enough to see that Amelia was listening, _really_ listening to every word. "But dying ze 'air afterwards send a message."

"What message is that?" Amelia's tone was clipped and to anybody else, it would look like she was dismissing Fleur's words as if she were talking to a child.

"A message to you. Ze 'air colour does matter. It may not 'ave before but it matters now. Ze UNSUB does not trust you to come to zat conclusion so 'e 'as given you a push in ze right direction."

Amelia was silent for a few tense seconds before she sighed and picked up her briefcase again. "I can't let you do this, Fleur. I understand that you and Hermione are close, more than close. Closer than her and Theo were but this is different. I understand that you want to help but you're jumping to conclusions and those conclusions don't help Hermione in the slightest. So, I say it again, drop it."

Fleur started to object but Amelia held her hand up for silence.

"I'll tell Andromeda to start setting you cold cases to work on - proper ones, ones that have been abandoned for years. But if you so much as sniff in the direction of this case again or tell Hermione from this point onwards, there will be consequences and I can guarantee that I will make them very unpleasant for you." She leaned forward, unconsciously mimicking the position of the Cockatrice. "Have I made myself clear?!"

Fleur didn't respond. If she thought that Fleur - and now, Hermione - were going to stay out of this, then she was going to be sorely disappointed.

"I already have one Natural Profiler," Amelia continued, her lips in a tight, foreboding line as she caught Fleur's eyes," I'd prefer to have two but not at the risk of my job."

There is was.

The ultimate threat.

If Fleur pushed this then Amelia would send her home. Back to her Maman and all of the overbearing Veela relatives. To the fancy societal parties and the long overdue breakdown of her parent's marriage. Back to Beauxbatons where people drooled over her but never saw her for _her._ Away from Hermione and the other Naturals, the only people in probably the world whose minds worked in the same mysterious ways as her own.

"You 'ave made yourself clear."

Amelia nodded and made to leave. As she passed, she placed a hand on Fleur's shoulder. "Give it a few more years," She said," They won't keep you out of the field forever."

She waited for Fleur's reply but didn't get an answer, moving away and opening the door of the study.

"If 'e is dying ze 'air zen ze rules are changing." She didn't turn to see if Amelia was listening. "And zat means zat zings are going to get worse before zey get better."

* * *

Fleur went to bed early - skipping dinner. Too much had happened in the past twenty four hours and her body physically hurt. She just didn't want to be awake anymore. Of course, that only lasted for a few hours. She awoke at midnight, highly keyed up and waking to the sound of Luna's snoring. Tossing and turning in bed did nothing and neither did pacing around the room. She was hungry and antsy and unbelievably awake.

Slipping out into the moonlight hallway, Fleur sighed and began to walk down towards the kitchen. She froze though, when she came to Hermione's room. The light was still on, leaking out from under the door. She swallowed thickly, taking a step forward before knocking.

The door was opened in seconds. Hermione poked her head out, glanced around before tugging Fleur into the room with her. 

" 'Ermione, I-" She began before being stopped by Hermione's lips being pressed onto her's.

"I think that you're right," Hermione said when she pulled away, hands looped together at the back of Fleur's neck.

"I, er, well...What?" Fleur's mind couldn't quite compute what was going on - half hazy because of the lack of sleep and the kiss she had just received. 

"The case," Hermione said urgently, ushering Fleur onto her bed where papers were strewn everywhere," I see the link - with my mother. Look."

Hermione had placed the pictures of each of the victims in a row together, from the earliest to the latest with a picture of her mother at the bottom. "She fits."

"Oui," Fleur said as she studied the documents, small smile on her face as she slipped an arm over Hermione's shoulders while the girl snuggled closer to her warmth.

"I heard about what happened with Amelia," Hermione said softly. At Fleur's shocked face, she smiled sweetly and shrugged. "Ginny eavesdrops. Anyway, I heard what happened and technically, you didn't talk to me about it after her order." She tapped the files," I read them, I profiled them. I think you're right."

"Amelia does not zink so," Fleur said sourly.

"No offence to Amelia but she doesn't get it sometimes," Hermione said, resting her head on Fleur's shoulder," She thinks that once a case is declared cold then it can't possibly be connected to a UNSUB that has just started killing. Sometimes, I think she forgets that same killers can stop killing for years before starting up again."

Fleur nodded, not restraining her urge to press a kiss to the top of Hermione's head.

"Wait a minute." Slowly it dawned on her. " 'Ow did you get zese files? Amelia said zat Luna's laptop-"

"Funny story about Luna's laptop," Hermione said as she pulled away with a mischievous grin," There was an incident when she was first learning to use it that resulted in it being blown up. Ever since then, all of the files that she creates automatically get sent to Theo. He gave them to me."

"But 'ow did 'e-"

"Theo eavesdrops."

"Zat is just great," Fleur said sarcastically," So Ginny eavesdrops, Theo eavesdrops and Moody eavesdrops. Anybody else?"

Hermione threw her head back and laughed before shaking her head. "Luna doesn't truly understand the concept, Harry isn't stealthy enough and I actually value privacy and, I don't know about you, but eavesdropping seems a very violating thing." She yawned and rubbed her eyes.

" 'Ow long 'ave you been up?"

"A while?" Hermione said as she reached for the now cold coffee that was sitting on her bedside table. Fleur intervened before she could reach it, fixing her girlfriend with a pointed look.

"No more," She said," Go to sleep 'Ermione. Zis can wait until ze morning."

"Yeah but-"

Fleur flicked her wand and the documents went flying into a pile before disappearing into the hidden spot between Hermione's bookcase and wall.

"Non, sleep - you need it."

"So do you," Hermione countered.

"I will just go back to my-"

"No," Hermione mocked with a grin," You can just stay here. You'll make too much noise if you went back to your room."

Both of them knew it was a weak excuse but neither mentioned it as they slid under the covers and cuddled closer.

* * *

_The box is black_ _._

_The tissue is white._

_The present is brown - almost black in colour._

_You lay it on the tissue._

_You put the lid on the box gently._

_You wash the scissors and use them to cut a long black silk ribbon - a lighter black than the box but only slightly._

_You tie it carefully around the box._

_Special._

_Just like The Girl is._

_No - not quite as special as The Girl._

_You've seen her._

_Watched her._

_You're sure._

_The timing is right - perfect._

_No more copies or imitations._

_It's times that she knew you - the way that you knew her mother._

_You put a card on the top of the package._

_You scrawl her name elegantly on it._

_Each letter is a confession of your love._

_H-E-R-M-I-O-N-E_


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione and Fleur have a lazy morning.  
> Hermione gets a package.

Fleur was groggy as she woke up, blinking away the sleep in her eyes before stretching her spine. Her body shuddered in pleasure before she turned her head to the side. Hermione was lying on her side in front of her, back pressed against Fleur's front and murmuring in her sleep. She wriggled around slightly in her sleep as if she sensed Fleur's movement but ultimately didn't open her eyes.

She moved around in bed slightly before turning around in Fleur's arms. Her eyelids fluttered opened after a few more minutes before sliding open fully - eyes slightly glazed over. She hummed lightly. "How long have you been up?" Her voice was thick with sleep, slightly hoarse and Fleur found it incredibly endearing. When they had woken up in France together, Hermione had always been awake before Fleur so this was a welcome surprise.

"Not zat long," Fleur said softly," You are very pretty when you sleep."

"If you were anybody else," Hermione replied as she rubbed her eyes," That would be slightly creepy."

"But?" Fleur was grinning now, eyes alight with amusement as she gazed down at the girl in her arms.

"But you're cute so...I'll let it pass."

"Zank you," Fleur teased lightly, head dipping down to press a soft kiss to Hermione's lips," I am honoured zat you zink me so cute."

"Shut up," Hermione said back, sitting up in bed but not moving so much that she and Fleur had detached themselves from each other," I still have time to back out of this."

"Oh no," Fleur said in a joking tone, arms snaking insistently around Hermione's waist and tugging her impossibly closer," Ze Veela will not let you go now. You are mine."

It was meant as a joke - said in a teasing tone but Fleur still saw the way Hermione's eyes dilated, the way her throat bobbed and the way her tongue shot out of her mouth to wet her lips. Fleur's Thrall snapped out - rapt attention at the attraction so clearly shown.

"We are going to table the discussion of how hot _that_ sounds for now," Hermione said with a grin that promised mischief," And head to breakfast." She checked the time on the alarm clock resting on her bedside table and sighed. "We're late enough as it is." 

Fleur groaned but detached herself, rolling onto her back and flopping down. "Non!" She said," Can we not just stay 'ere? It is more comfortable."

"You're so lazy," Hermione muttered, slipping out of bed and reaching out to pull Fleur by the wrist.

"No I am not. I am merely...low on energy."

"You're lazy," Hermione said again," Come on - before Moody comes knocking on my door."

Fleur sighed - long and drawn out. In the back of her mind, she wondered if living in the same house as Ginny for so long had caused her to dramatise many of her reactions but she got up nonetheless - lacing her fingers tightly with Hermione's.

"Come on zen," She said with a lazy smile," I suppose zat we should eat."

Their arrival in the kitchen didn't go unnoticed. The other inhabitants of the house were already sitting at the kitchen island with Moody leaning against the wall and Harry at the stove.

"Finally," Ginny drawled with a grin," I thought that you two love birds would never get your act together. Oh, thank you, for gracing us with your presences!"

Fleur rolled her eyes as she sat at the island while Hermione flicked her wand and sent a flurry of hot wind towards Ginny - practically knocking her out of her seat. "Shut up, Ginny," Hermione muttered, lowering herself into the chair next to Fleur and reaching for the toast sitting in the centre of the table.

Of course, Ginny didn't listen at all.

"Should we make a toast?" She teased, holding up an imaginary wine glass," To Hermione, who has finally realised how emotions work! And to Fleur, whose weird Veela instincts caused her to fall in love with Hermione!"

The surrounding group (mainly Harry and a very confused Luna) cheered while Hermione looked mortified - hiding her head in Fleur's neck. From across the table, Fleur made eye contact with an annoyed looking Theo - who rose from the table and left the room, muttering that he had work that he needed to do.

* * *

After breakfast, Hermione and Fleur managed to give an obnoxiously interested Ginny the slip as they raced up to the library to get started on the work that Andromeda had sent them. True to her word, Amelia had managed to convince the other Auror to finally let the pair of them work on a proper cold case. Of course, the excitement of that little fact was easily swept under the rug when Fleur realised that the pair of them were all alone in the library - Thrall suddenly snapping out in an instant and forming an odd little cocoon around both girls.

"You're so silly," Hermione said softly as Fleur leaned into her once they had sat down.

Neither girl made a move to reach for the cold case waiting on the desk for them. "Moi?" Fleur gasped, a dramatic hand going to her chest," I am not 'silly'."

"Your Thrall is all over the place," Hermione replied with a quirked eyebrow.

"Non," Fleur retorted softly," Just all over you." She leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to Hermione's lips before pulling away - eyes flicking to the case file before flicking back to Hermione. "I do not particularly want to look at zis case."

Hermione nodded in agreement before glancing around. She rose from her seat, took a few steps towards the door, shut it and cast a spell that would repel eavesdroppers. There was a beat of silence between the pair as Hermione slumped back into her seat. "We need to find my mother's file," Was what she said. There was another more drawn out silence in the room before Fleur broke it.

" 'Ow do you suppose zat we do zat? Amelia will - as you English say - 'ave our 'eads if we ask for it."

"I guess so," Hermione said softly, instinctively leaning against Fleur as she thought of a plan," I don't think that I could ask for it either - she'll definitely suspect that you've told me something."

Their planning hit a wall half an hour in - their actual work was still untouched on the desk in front of them. The ideas ranged from getting into contact with the Muggle police officers that worked on her mother's murder to breaking into the ministry of magic, duel a man with a snake nose and sneak into Amelia's office to grab the file. Of course, none of their ideas were particularly lucrative and they settled to leaning back in their seats, cuddled up tightly to each other with Hermione's head resting on Fleur's shoulder.

"Knock, knock," Ginny announced her presence with the usual words, strolling into the library without any invitation with a small box under her arm. "You two will never believe what I found in our post box today. I mean, first of all, I can't believe Muggles have to actually send letters without using owls! And, second of all, I expected it to be empty, so imagine my surprise when I found out that somebody had sent you a package, Mione. I took it upon myself to open it and ta-da! A box within a box."

She placed the package in front of Hermione - a mischievous glint in her eyes. 

"You really are incredibly popular," Ginny said with the calm sort of teasing that was reserved only for Hermione," But it defies all logic - neither Fleur nor Theo have any reason to send you a package. Do you have an admirer from the village, 'Mione?"

Fleur tuned out Ginny's talking, hand reaching under the table for Hermione's. The box was matte black with a lid that fit perfectly. A black ribbon had been wrapped twice around the package - forming a cross on the front. In the centre, the cross curled into a neatly wrapped bow.

"Did I hear my name?" Theo said as he entered. His blazer was draped over his shoulders and his sketchpad was under his arm - a pack of pencils tightly held in his hand when he noticed the gift sitting on the table in front of Hermione. His smile turned fake and sharp.

"Somebody isn't fond of competition," Ginny sung with a grin as she sat on the desk, one leg resting on the other.

"Somebody looks more vulnerable than she wants to be," Theo hissed back without missing a beat. "Do you have a point?"

That shut Ginny up - temporarily - and Fleur glanced back down at the gift. Hermione was running her fingers over the ribbon - silk. Not many people bothered to waste their money on using a silk ribbon for something as small as a gift box.

"You didn't send this," Hermione said softly as she stared into Fleur's eyes - still clutching her hand under the table. It wasn't a question.

But Fleur still responded with a soft," Non, I did not."

Hermione wasn't in contact with her family's side of the family - and her mother had never spoken of her own. Nobody had any reason to send her a care package, least of all using a silk ribbon.

Fleur hadn't sent it.

Theo wasn't the gift giving type.

Hermione turned to Ginny. "You sent this."

"Not true," Ginny scoffed, rolling her eyes.

Fleur reached for the note on top of the box. It was written on white card with a flowing black script that wasn't out of place with those who were raised in noble houses.

"From me to you," Ginny read over her shoulder. She plucked the card from Fleur's hand, studied it for a moment before arching her eyebrow and tossing it back onto the table. "How romantic."

A shiver went up Fleur's spine. Her breath suddenly became laboured, gut twisting. The package, the ribbon, the bow tied just so...

Something wasn't right.

By the look on Hermione's face, she felt it as well. They glanced at each other once before nodding. The decision was already made and Hermione reached to open it. She tugged the bow and the ribbon fell onto a heap on the desk. She reached to pull off the lid and then put her hand inside. She pulled out a meticulously folded sheet of tissue paper.

"What is it?" Ginny asked.

They had all gone silent - even Theo who was semi-sulking in the corner.

Hermione ignored the question as she placed the paper onto the desk. She unwrapped the tissue.

She screamed.

Nestled in the paper, was a lock of dark brown hair.

* * *

It took Amelia an hour to get out of whatever she was doing. It took an extra five minutes for her to get to the house. It took her ten seconds to get from the Floo point to the library - to the box.

"Still zinking zat I am jumping to conclusions when I said zat zis is about 'Ermione's mother?" Fleur hadn't relinquished her hold on Hermione since they had unwrapped the present - hadn't let go even when Hermione had gone into a full fledged panic attack that caused books to fly off of their shelves in an instant. Amelia ignored both of them, instead, she barked orders to the team of Aurors that she had brought with her.

"Put that packaging in stasis," She ordered," And the box, the card, the note - everything. Dawlish, track the box - the Muggle way. I need to know how it was sent, where it's from, who paid for shipping. Expand out the profile of our UNSUB to those who know Muggle methods - rule out most Purebloods. Podmore, Shacklebolt, take the hair to the forensic department. We need to work out who it's from and we need to know now. I don't care who you have to threaten to get it done - but make it happen. Andromeda..."

Andromeda crossed her arms, tilting her head to the side and levelled a pointed look at her partner. To Amelia's credit, she lowered her voice to a more acceptable level.

"If this is our UNSUB," She said," Then it changes everything. He's never contacted the victim beforehand - this is our chance to get ahead of him."

"We don't even know if it is our UNSUB," Andromeda pointed out, leaning against the wall with a hand resting on her wand holster," For all we know - this could be a prank." Her eyes drifted towards Ginny and Fleur whipped her head around to look at the deception specialist as well.

Ginny tossed her hair over her shoulder and bravely met both of their gazes but addressed Andromeda as she spoke. "This is a little too elaborate, even for me."

"Ginny," Amelia intervened before Ginny whirled around and left in annoyance," Tell me again what happened."

"Mad-eye told me to go and get the post from the post box." She sighed. "I thought it was stupid and said as much. He told me to 'mind your own business, girly and get me the post'. So, I went out. I got the post. Two letters - both for Mad-eye - and a package. It was for Hermione so I opened it. There was a box inside. _Then_ I decided that that I wanted to see her face when she opened it. I brought it in. Hermione opened it. The end."

She held Amelia's gaze in stubbornness.

Amelia turned to Andromeda. "If it comes back as a match with one of the victims then you'll have to complete rework the profile. If it doesn't..." Her eyes drifted back to Ginny.

"Why is everybody looking at me?!" She demanded, leaping from the table and squaring her shoulders. "I found the package. I didn't send it! If anything, if the hair doesn't match the victims then, maybe, you should be asking Fleur some questions."

"Me?!" Fleur hissed back incredulously, finally lifting her chin from its spot on Hermione's shoulder.

"Yes, you," Ginny hissed back," How fortunate it is that you wanted to work on this case and then, out of the blue, the killer contacts Hermione? How lucky for you!"

Fleur couldn't tell if Ginny believed what she was saying but it didn't matter. It didn't matter because Amelia turned her diamond hard gaze upon the Veela.

"Fleur didn't do this."

Everybody in the room seemed to jump when Hermione spoke - almost as if they had forgotten that she was in the room. She hadn't spoken since she had screamed, just curled in on herself as she had her panic attack, had gone limp in Fleur's grip when the Aurors had arrived.

"Fleur isn't the type to play games." Her tone was full of quiet confidence. "She knows that the killer is escalating and she wouldn't risk diverting manpower while the killer was still at large. The only reason she wanted in on this case is because she thinks that it has something to do with my mother - which makes it to do with me. If this is a prank then..." She took a long drawn out breath. "This is a prank that is going to get somebody killed."

"Hermione's right," Andromeda said with a sigh - gaze flicking between the close proximity of her students, as if finally realising how close they had gotten while she was away. "If Fleur still wanted an in on this case then she would have found a way to work on this on her own."

Fleur tried very hard to not look guilty and thanked the Veela gods that Harry was not in the library to read her emotions - because Andromeda had hit the nail on the head on what exactly she had been trying to do.

"Fleur," Amelia took a step towards both girls - barely a few centimetres away from them," Did you or did you not drop this case when I told you to? Have you done anything that could have drawn attention to you or Hermione or anybody else in this house?"

The tension in the room was almost visible and Fleur's Thrall whipped out to wrap Hermione and Fleur in a tight cocoon in the hopes of protecting them both from this perceived threat - it matter not that Fleur knew that Amelia would not lay a hand on either of them.

"All Fleur did was go through the files with me."

All eyes flicked to Hermione again. Usually, she made a conscious effort to try and hide in the background but today - perhaps gaining confidence from the way that Fleur hadn't left her side during her downward spiral earlier - she squared her shoulders and puffed out her chest. She looked pointedly at Amelia, holding her gaze without being intimidated in the slightest. "I read the files. I profiled them. I think Fleur is right. These women are imitations, stand ins and there is a very good chance that they're stand ins for my mother."

"I've never let you see Lyra Granger's case file," Amelia shot back. Hermione recoiled like she had been slapped in the face at the mere mention of her mother's name but she didn't back down.

"But I know my own mother's face," She said," And I've seen the human hair that I've just been sent as some sick, twisted gift."

Amelia listened to every word that Hermione said before falling silent. There was a beat or two before she finally responded," You aren't authorised to work on cases - not anymore."

"I know."

"You are not going to work on this case."

"I know." Hermione shrugged and leaned back in Fleur's embrace - who just held her a little tighter.

"I'm going to pretend that we never had this conversation."

"Liar." Ginny covered the words with a cough.

Amelia, however, was not amused. "You may leave the room now, Ginny."

"Oh, Amelia," Ginny said sarcastically," May I?"

Fleur stifled a laugh and Hermione made a choking sound that meant she wasn't as successful at covering her own.

After a long moment and a glare thrown at both of the Aurors, Ginny turned on her heel and stalked out of the room. Once she was gone, Amelia turned to Theo - who had been lurking in the back of the room. "Theo, find Harry and tell them that from now on, you and him are rooming together. And find Ginny and tell her to move her things into Hermione's room." When Theo had left, she faced Andromeda. "Do you think that this case has something to do with Lyra Granger's?"

Hermione didn't flinch this time - when her mother's name was said - but she did lean more into Fleur. They were impossibly close to each other, so close that Fleur's steady breaths were warm on Hermione's neck and her Thrall was wrapped tightly around them both - like a safety blanket.

"I don't think it matters," Andromeda said finally," Hermione's hair is brown. Her eyes aren't the same colour but everything else hits the profile. She was a runaway for a time, she's a little younger by a few years but that hardly matters. Our UNSUB is escalating. We can safely assume that the hair dye was used as a message which means that this guy is playing with us. If he's playing with us then there is a chance that he's watching us. And," She sighed," If he's watching us then there's a good chance that he's following us which all means that we could have lead him here. To Hermione."

An owl appeared at the window before Amelia could reply. She took the letter without a word and read through it at rapid speed. Fleur knew what she was going to say before she said it. Amelia passed over the letter to Andromeda and ran an exasperated hand through her hair.

"There's a new body."

* * *

_You watch the Aurors scurry around like Nifflers at the crime scene._

_This particular girl isn't your best work._

_You killed her last night - when the roaring in your ears got too much._

_She's still semi-recognisable and the symbols on her back are scratched on rather than cut._

_But that's not the point._

_Not this time._

_This time, the point is that gift that you sent to sweet little Hermione Granger was the real thing._

_The pathetic little Squib lying face down on the pavement in Diagon Alley is just part of the plan._

_You prayed to merlin that sweet little Hermione Granger was there when the Aurors got the call._

_Did you scream when you opened the box, Hermione?_

_Were you scared?_

_Am I the thought that keeps you up at night?_

_There's so much that you want to tell her - that you want to ask her._

_The rest of the world will never understand - the Mind Healers will never understand the inner workings of your brain._

_But Hermione will._

_You and her are the same._

_Hermione is her mother's daughter - and that's as close as you'll ever get._


	14. Chapter 14

Two days later, the forensic wizards came to their conclusion. The hair was from the latest victim - an twenty-one year old Squib that had gone on a night out with her friends, not knowing that she would never see them again.

"I'll accept gifts in lieu of an apology anytime now," Ginny told Andromeda the moment she had announced their findings.

Andromeda didn't respond as she crossed the space between Amelia's study door to her desk in three swift footsteps. Four of the Naturals were in the room - Ginny, Fleur, Hermione and Theo. Luna was nowhere to be found - probably holed up in the basement. In the two days between the Aurors visits, all she could talk about was the low probability of the killer being somebody completely random. Harry wasn't in the study either, had told the others that he was going to find Luna and keep her company - Fleur privately wondered if he was making sure that she didn't steal something from the Aurors again.

"Is 'Ermione in danger?" Fleur asked the question that they were all wondering. She had taken to sleeping in Hermione's room now - not that the Aurors knew this of course and Ginny was more than happy to pretend to be Fleur when it came to sneaking into her and Luna's room.

"What do you think?" Andromeda asked.

Amelia almost gaped at her - like she could scarcely believe that her partner was turning this into a teaching opportunity but Hermione answered anyway, squeezing Fleur's hand tightly as she did so.

"I think this UNSUB wants to kill me," Hermione said with a sigh," But I don't think that he wants to kill me just yet."

"This is insane," Theo said from her other side," This is completely insane." Fleur glanced at him and felt her hold on Hermione's hand tighten. He looked like he wanted to kill somebody. His jaw was clenched with his hands curled into fists at his side. "Hermione, are you even listening to yourself?" He turned to Amelia. "She's in shock."

"She is right here," Hermione said back in annoyance. She didn't contradict the rest of Theo's statement though, just leant into Fleur's embrace before taking a steadying breath.

" _You_ kill people wiz brown 'air - women. Women who remind _you_ of someone else. But one day, _you_ see 'Ermione. She is not like ze ozzers. _You_ never needed to talk to zem before. But she is different," Fleur said softly when the silence in the room got to be too much," _You_ send 'er a gift. _You_ make 'er special so when _you_ kill 'er, zat will be special too." She glanced around the room before meeting Amelia's eyes. "Am I wrong?"

" _I've_ been killing for a long time," Hermione was the one that answered, slipping into the mindset of the killer just as easily as Fleur had," But each time, it's a little less like the first time. _I_ need the danger, the challenge, the thrill." She looked up at Fleur with slightly wet eyes before swallowing thickly. "You aren't wrong, Fleur."

"This is sick!" Theo exclaimed suddenly," There's some creepy psycho out there and you two are treating it like a Merlin damned game!"

"It is a game," Fleur said - still slightly in the mind set of the killer. 

But Theo didn't realise that - he only heard the words that left her mouth. In an instant, she had been ripped out of Hermione's grip and shoved against the wall. Theo had his wand at her throat, practically shaking with rage. Fleur easily towered over him with feather's sprouting at her hairline but he didn't seem intimidated in the slightest. "Listen to me, you sick fucking-"

"Theo!" Amelia exclaimed, disarming the boy with a swift flick of her wand and pulling the boy from Fleur.

Fleur smoothed out her shirt and brushed her feathers from her hair. "I never said zat zis was a game to me, Theodore." Her eyes flashed into slits before turning back again as she stepped back to Hermione's side - who checked her over thoroughly for any injuries.

"So what do we do now?" Ginny asked as she lounged against the wall - distracting the room easily from the tension between Fleur and Theo.

Amelia sighed before jabbing a finger in Fleur's direction. "You're still not allowed to work on this case." She glanced at Hermione. "Neither of you are. I'm assigning a team to watch over the house. I'll introduce you to Shacklebolt, Dawlish and Podmore later. Until further notice, none of you will be leaving this house and Hermione will always be supervised."

"You should take me with you." Hermione ignored Amelia and turned beseeching eyes to Andromeda.

"This UNSUB has only made contact this once." Andromeda said softly," He will send you something else whether you're here or somewhere else. At least, if you're here then we have the home court advantage, I think, the Muggles are fond of saying. This UNSUB is breaking pattern." She reached forward and placed a comforting hand on Hermione's cheek. "I know that it's scary but it's a good thing. That means that he's getting reckless, more likely to make a mistake."

"I can't just do nothing!" Hermione hissed back.

"Then don't," Andromeda said," Make a list of everybody that you've talked to this year, anybody you've met - even in passing."

Hermione sighed and stepped back into Fleur's warm embrace.

"The killer posted the package," Ginny pointed out," He doesn't have to be local."

"He wants to see her," Fleur said with a huff - obviously not comfortable with the idea of still being in this killer's head.

"We weren't able to trace the package," Andromeda said grimly," Busy day in a busy Muggle post office. They could have used a Notice-Me-Not charm or something else. I'll give to him, this guy is good. He's playing with us. At this point, I don't want to rule anything out."

* * *

For the next three days, Hermione could scarcely take a shower without somebody waiting outside for her. Luna had taken to offering up helpful statistics, Theo left little care packages of food outside her door (he thought that she didn't know it was him but she did), Harry had roped her into playing a few video games with him but they stopped that after they got a bit too competitive and their magic accidentally blew up the games console. Ginny had take her role as Hermione's pseudo-sister to the extreme and hovered without even offering up thinly veiled taunts. 

She and Fleur barely had the time alone and honestly, now that they were 'courting' or whatever odd thing Fleur's Veela instincts had chosen to cause their relationship, it was grating on the elder witch's nerves. She didn't even get the chance to sneak into Hermione's room the previous night because Auror Podmore had been guarding the door.

"There are approximately six-hundred-thousand funerals each year in the UK," Luna said as Fleur stared up at her ceiling in silence.

"Funerals?" Fleur said, sitting up and glancing at her roommate suspiciously. "Did somebody give you coffee?"

Luna very pointedly didn't answer Fleur's question. "You miss Hermione. I thought that I could give you a distraction."

Fleur sighed before smiling, rising from her own bed to sit next to Luna on her's. "Do you 'ave any cheerful statistics?"

Luna frowned for a moment, tilting her head to the side before nodding. "Do pigs count as cheerful?" She asked.

"Go on."

"Pigs can experience depression."

Fleur had to fight the urge to face palm but her lips did quirk upwards in a smile before she gently told Luna," Facts about depression are not cheerful."

Luna looked confused for a moment before seemingly agreeing. "If you gave me a balloon the I could make you a pig."

Fleur laughed at that, throwing her head back before clutching her stomach when it began to hurt. She didn't know why that was so funny - maybe the stress of the past few days had finally caught up with her. Whatever the reason for her laughter, Fleur couldn't stop even when the door to her and Luna's bedroom was pushed open. Both girls looked up to the doorway just in time to see it be pushed shut and Hermione to rest her head against the door.

" 'Ermione?" Fleur stopped laughing as she stood up, crossing the room in three quick steps.

"Hey," Hermione said as she slid into Fleur's arms," Managed to give Ginny the slip to get up here. Is this a bad time?"

"I'm not sure how time could be bad," Luna said from her bed," But I was just about to head out and find some food. I'll leave you two here."

Luna slipped out of the door, humming under her breath about Nargles. Fleur and Hermione watched her go, matching fond smiles on their faces.

"This sounds so stupid," Hermione said when they had sat down on Fleur's bed," But I missed you."

"I missed you too," Fleur said, dipping her head down for a sweet kiss," Zere are too many people in zis 'ouse. 'Ow are you feeling?"

"Nervous, I suppose?" Hermione huffed out after a beat of silence - leaning into Fleur's side. She drew her wand from her pocket, muttered a few spells until a clear night sky appeared on the ceiling. Stars dotted the darkness as both girls peered up at it - Fleur was mostly confused and said as much. "Mum and I travelled around a lot," Hermione explained," But she would always take the time to point out the constellations to me." She shrugged and rested her head on Fleur's shoulder," I don't know. I thought that it might be nice."

Fleur turned her head, dipped down for a kiss before looking up at her ceiling again. "I am sad to say," She said," Zat I nearly failed Astronomy. Per'aps, you could tell me your favourites?" She was wearing a cheeky smile, arm around Hermione's shoulder as they leaned back against the wall.

"That one," Hermione pointed to the ceiling," That's Aquila. He's the eagle that carried Zeus' thunderbolts and he once carried Ganymede up to Olympus to be the cup bearer for the gods."

Fleur cocked her head to the side. "Ze stars 'ave stories?"

"Merlin Fleur," Hermione laughed, the first time that she had done so since everything had happened," I thought you were joking but, Merlin, I can't believe that you don't know Astronomy!"

Fleur smiled, nudging Hermione with her shoulder. "Fine, I do not know Astronomy. So, Aquila, zen? Zat one is your favourite?"

"One of them," Hermione said before pointing to another one," That one's my other favourite. Canis Minor - he's one of Orion's hunting dogs. His name translates to little dog."

"You like animals," Fleur said softly," It is very cute."

"Yeah," Hermione said softly as she watched the night sky she had conjured," Mum never let me have a pet because we moved around too much. But, yeah, most of the animal stars are my favourite. What about you?"

"Me?"

"Do you have a favourite constellation?"

"Non. Would you like to 'elp me find one?" She lightly tugged on Hermione's hair. "Use zat big brain of yours to try and teach me ze stories be'ind zem?"

Hermione's answering kiss was all Fleur needed to know.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fleur and Hermione share some kisses  
> The UNSUB sends another message

Fleur and Hermione woke the next day in Hermione's room- maybe half an hour or so before lunch. Luna was nowhere to be seen and nobody else had woken them up. 

Hermione was already up by the time that Fleur had blinked away the sleep in her arms. She was sitting up against the headboard, book in hand and hair tied up in a messy ponytail that had yet to be brushed through. "Morning," She said with a smile as she gazed down at her bed mate. They had missed dinner last night after Hermione's impromptu lesson on the stars - Fleur finally settled on her favourite constellation being Pegasus - and had managed to sneak into Hermione's room without any of the Aurors noticing. Ginny had come in a bit before midnight to find Hermione asleep and Fleur drifting off. She chose against teasing them and whirled around to crash in Luna and Fleur's room.

"Good morning," Fleur parroted as she sat up. She ran a cursory hand through her hair before stretching her arms above her head. "What are you reading?"

"What do you think?" Hermione deadpanned with a smile, nose scrunched up in the exact way that Fleur loved.

"Ancient Runes?"

"Smartass," Hermione said with a laugh, sticking out her tongue. Fleur grinned back at her, leaning closer to press a kiss to Hermione's cheek. She pulled away for a second before deciding against it and grabbing Hermione by the back of the neck - dragging her in for another, more heated kiss.

"Hmm," Fleur hummed," You like it 'zough." 

"Maybe I do," Hermione said, nipping Fleur's lip as they pulled apart. She almost laughed at the way Fleur's ice blue eyes slowly grew darker and a smirk curved upwards onto her lips. She plucked the book from Hermione's hands, not even bothering to mark the page before throwing it to the floor. Hermione looked like she was going to complain before Fleur straddled her, crashing their lips together again.

Hermione melted into the kiss, hands reaching up to tangle in Fleur's hair while Fleur reached up to lace her fingers together as they cupped the back of Hermione's neck. 

They had just broken away from each other, already leaning back in for another kiss when the door burst open.

"Luna?" Fleur asked in shock. Luna looked frazzled and anxious. She was still in her pyjamas and was breathing heavily.

"It had my name on it," She blurted out," It's not stealing if it has my name on it!"

"What had your name on it?" Hermione asked, exchanging a look with Fleur.

With shaking hands, she held out a padded envelope.

"Who did you not steal zis from?" Fleur asked.

"One of the Aurors in the kitchen," Luna replied," Podmore, I think."

They had been screening everybody's mail.

Hermione reached for the padded envelope and checked inside. Both her's and Fleur's hearts dropped when they saw what was inside.

A black box with a ribbon tied around it.

* * *

Once the box had been removed from the envelope, there was no question who it was from. The box was the same so was the ribbon, the card in the exact same sloping handwriting written with an elegant hand. The first package had come directly to Hermione. This time the UNSUB had gotten to her through Luna.

"You didn't open the box." Andromeda sounded surprised. It had taken two minutes since the box had been opened for Aurors Dawlish and Shacklebolt to burst into the room. They saw the box. Shacklebolt owled Andromeda and Amelia - apparently using Muggle technology was something that wasn't wide spread through the department. Hermione and Fleur had just enough time to change out of their pyjamas before their supervisors arrived - with another, older man in tow.

"I didn't want to compromise the evidence," Hermione's tone seemed emotionless but Fleur saw through that easily.

"You did the right thing." The man that had come with the Aurors spoke for the first time. His voice was gruff, a mirror to his scarred face. Fleur put his age in the mid sixties. He wasn't tall but he did have a commanding aura and spoke to both Hermione and Fleur like they were children.

"Hermione, Fleur, this is Director Carrow." Amelia was the one that made the introduction. It was short and sweet but the things that she didn't say numbered in the dozens.

For one, she didn't say that this was the Head of the Auror department - Amelia and Andromeda's boss. She didn't say that he was the one that signed off the on the program. She didn't say that he was the one to rake her over the coals for using an eleven year old Hermione on active cases.

She didn't have to.

"I want to be there when you open it," Hermione said. She was looking at Amelia but it was the Director that answered her, slowly as if she couldn't comprehend what was going on around her. Fleur automatically didn't like him.

"I really don't think that is necessary," He said.

Fleur studied him with narrowed eyes - unawares that her pupils had turned into slits. He was old. He looked like he had children, maybe grandchildren. There had to be a soft spot for young people somewhere.

"I'm a target," Hermione said, squaring her shoulders as she squeezed Fleur's hand," The more I know about this UNSUB, the safer I am."

"We can keep you safe," Director Carrow said.

"Oh yes," Fleur hissed," Because zat 'as worked out so well already. Ze UNSUB 'as still managed to send my girlfriend a message. Just zis time, she is getting to 'er 'zrough Luna."

"Fleur-" Amelia started to say. She was using the same tone that the director was using - treating the pair of them like they were children.

"Ze UNSUB stuck again, did 'e not?" Fleur voiced the opinion that both she and Hermione were thinking. There was no possible reason for all of the Aurors to be so tense, so on edge if this gift had belonged to an older victim.

The question was met with silence - a stunned sort of silence from the Director and other Aurors and a proud one from Amelia and Andromeda.

"The UNSUB wants me," Hermione said in the same fake, detached voice from earlier, swallowing thickly," Whatever is in the box is a step up from the last gift. He _will_ know if you keep this from me. It's a present for me but a warning for you. It'll get worse if you keep this from me. Open it."

There was more silence before the Director sighed, ran a hand through his salt and pepper coloured hair and nodded to Amelia. "Open it."

Amelia flicked her wand. The ribbon unravelled and the bow fell apart. She levitated the card from the box and pulled open the lid. She unwrapped the tissue paper. 

There was another lock of hair.

Blonde, this time.

"Open the card," Hermione and Fleur ordered at the same time.

Amelia opened the envelope and pulled out the card carefully. It was similar to the other one, completely white. Amelia opened it and a picture fell onto the desk.

Fleur almost threw up. Immediately she pulled Hermione into her embrace and held her girlfriend's head in the crook of her neck. She sucked in a deep breath and ignored the feathers that sprouted across the hairline.

The picture was of a girl. It was a wizarding photograph - which made it even worse. Her wrists were bound in front of her. Her face was a mottle of bruises and dried blood. Her eyes were blue - half way between the palest of shades and a light, almost silver kind of grey. They were filled with tears as the picture of her tried to wiggle around - tried to free herself. Fleur could practically hear the screams that were muffled behind the old rag that had been used to gag her.

"She is so young," Fleur said softly, still shielding Hermione from seeing it. Images flashed in her mind's eye of Hermione being the person in the picture. Hermione staring up at the camera with her large brown eyes, blood dripping down her face with dark bruises all over. 

The girl in the picture couldn't have been more than fifteen - sixteen at a reach. Ginny's age.

"Amelia," Andromeda said, picking up the picture and studying it," Look at the Daily Prophet."

Fleur had been so fixated on keeping Hermione from seeing that she hadn't noticed the newspaper that was leaning against the girl's chest.

"She was alive this time yesterday," Amelia said. 

Hermione pulled away from Fleur's chest then. She held Fleur's eyes and they both knew why the hair was blonde this time - why this gift was different.

" _You_ took 'er," Fleur said softly but broke off before she could finish.

"Because they took me," Hermione swallowed thickly before turning to face the Aurors again," Who is she?"

Fleur knew why she was asking the question. The UNSUB broke the pattern. This girl was so different from the other victims and if Fleur knew one thing about this killer, it was that he chose all of his victims for a reason.

"I understand your personal stake in this case, Miss Granger," Director Carrow said," But that information is above your pay grade."

"You don't pay me," Hermione informed him curtly before turning to Andromeda and repeating her question.

Andromeda ignored the question. "What does the card say?" The Auror asked her partner," The picture is only part of the message.

_HERMIONE - WOULDN'T IT LOOK PRETTIER LIKE YOURS?_

The implication was clear as day to all of those in the room. The girl was alive but not for long.

"Who. Is. She?" Hermione said through clenched teeth.

"Astoria Greengrass," Amelia sighed," Her father is a politician."

The Director took a menacing step towards Amelia. "That is need-to-know information, Auror Bones."

Andromeda waved off the objection, bringing attention to herself easily. "The girls need to know this information," She said curtly," Astoria is a deliberate strike towards us. She was meant to be at Hogwarts but snuck out. Our killer must have known this because how else would he have gotten to her. This is a warning. If we keep Hermione on lockdown in this house then he will kill Astoria. We're no closer to finding this guy then we were three days ago and if we give him a reason to, then Astoria will be dead before we can find her."

The Director narrowed his eyes at her. "What are you suggesting, Auror Black-Tonks?"

"I'm suggesting," Andromeda said," That we play to the killer's needs. We take her to the latest crime scene."

Director Carrow looked annoyed at the suggestion. "You think that the kid can see something that we haven't?"

"No. But I think that taking Hermione will bring the killer out of hiding."

"We're not training these children to play bait!" Amelia practically spat at her partner.

Director Carrow held Andromeda's gaze for a second too long to just be contemplating before turning to Amelia. "Auror Bones," He ordered," Take her with you to the crime scene." He turned to Hermione, who was leaning into Fleur for support. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to, Miss Granger."

"I'll go," Hermione said as she squared her shoulders," But I'm bringing backup of my own."

* * *

_You were busy yesterday._

_You did nothing of value._

_But today - today you've done something._

_You don't like the girl lying in front of you._

_For one, she's blonde._

_For two, her eyes aren't the right shade._

_You don't like her at all but you had to send them a warning._

_You had to make them let Hermione out again._

_She used to sit on the shore of the beach every evening but then she stopped doing it._

_On Thursdays, she used to go into town and buy herself a Boba Tea - but then she didn't._

_Hermione should be having fun._

_She should be allowed out again._

_The girl lying in front of you isn't Hermione._

_She doesn't act like Hermione._

_You knew that if you had Hermione lying in front of you, she wouldn't be crying like this girl is._

_She wouldn't be begging to be let go._

_She would give you that angry look in her eyes that you see when she's lying on the beach, annoyed._

_That look in her eyes when she's so close to snapping, to losing control so completely that she punches a tree trunk until her knuckles bleed._

_This girl isn't Hermione._

_She never will be._


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Naturals head to the last place that Astoria was seen

Club Chimera was a club in Inverness. Realistically, a Hogwarts student could sneak out of the castle to Hogsmeade and Floo to the city. It was in the Wizarding part of the city that was protected by strong wards that repelled Muggles. Club Chimera was also an eighteen plus establishment and made a habit of only serving alcohol to those who wore a twenty-one plus wristband after a nasty incident when two eighteen year olds wizards got drunk and thought that it was a good idea to duel in the building. As such, the two boys had been banned, half of the building had been blown up and the alcohol serving age had been established.

However, Astoria Greengrass who was decidedly not twenty-one nor eighteen had - according to eye witness reports from some of her friends - been quite tipsy when she stumbled her way into the bathroom.

Director Carrow had allowed Hermione to bring two of her fellow Naturals with her to the crime scene. Fleur was the automatic choice as her girlfriend and fellow profiler. Ginny was out because there was nobody to interview to catch out in lies and Harry was vetoed for similar reasons. Theo was also not chosen because his skillset required a person to be described to him so he could scrawl down an accurate representation of their face. So, the only other option was Luna.

Currently though, Luna was walking around the perimeter with Amelia, looking for points of entry and doing a few calculations about maximum capacity, total amount of alcohol consumed, popularity of the music being played and the line for the bathroom.

Hermione, Fleur and Andromeda, however, were inside the club - retracing Astoria's last steps.

"Astoria was in line with a friend," Andromeda had told them when they entered the club," Friend went into bathroom A, leaving Astoria next in line. When the friend left the bathroom, Astoria was gone. Assuming she had gone into bathroom B, the friend went back to the bar. She never saw Astoria again."

"Okay," Hermione said softly," I'm Astoria. I'm a little drunk and I stumble into the bathroom." She did just that, stumbling into Bathroom B. "Maybe I remember to lock it, maybe I don't."

She surveyed the area. The toilet looked gross, the sink only a little bit more sanitary. Above the sink, was a mirror. She could hardly see her reflection in it. It was covered in graffiti from previous occupants. 

"If you forgot to lock ze door zen I could 'ave followed you in," Fleur said from behind her. It was the first time that she had used 'I' while profiling a killer before. She took a step forward, trapping Hermione between her body and the sink - making the already small space seem even smaller. She raised her wand. "I could 'ave stunned you."

Hermione twisted around, looking at the mirror again and leaning into Fleur's body. "You didn't though."

She lowered her wand and nodded. "I did not."

She wrapped a hand around Hermione's waist.

"Maybe I'm not just a little drunk," Hermione said slowly, leaning back and meeting Fleur's eyes - who caught onto her train of thought easily," Maybe I'm a lot drunker then I should be."

"Maybe," Fleur said quietly," I slipped a potion into your drink."

"It's five feet from the bathroom door to the closest exit." Luna spoke from outside the closed door - perhaps knowing that it wouldn't be suitable to try and step into the already tight space with the couple.

It was the same for Andromeda. "People saw Astoria enter," She said," But nobody remembers seeing her leave. The club has wards against apparation." 

Given that Astoria wasn't the only person tipsy in Club Chimera, Fleur wasn't at all surprised that nobody remembered seeing her leave.

"Nine seconds," Luna spoke again," Accounting for Astoria being tipsy and therefore making it difficult for her to walk and taking into account the amount of people dancing, it would have taken around nine seconds for her to get from the bathroom to the nearest exit and then apparate once she got outside."

"Alright you two." Andromeda had done a good job of fading into the background and letting Hermione and Fleur work but either she was losing her patience (not likely) or she was on a timetable (much more more likely). "Playtime is over. Come on out. For what it's worth, it came to the exact same conclusion. Other victims had traces of sleeping draughts in their systems so it stands to reason that Astoria had the same."

Fleur and Hermione sighed in sync - stole one kiss while they still had privacy - before leaving the bathroom.

"Any sign for our UNSUB outside?" Hermione asked and Fleur was struck just how easily that she had forgotten why they were here - that Hermione was playing bait for a dangerous serial killer that had qualms about killing all over the UK.

"Plainclothes Aurors are outside," Andromeda informed them," They're handing out leaflets. They're wearing cameras - patching through videos to the house so Harry and Ginny can analyse anybody who approaches. Theo is working on sketches on descriptions that Astoria's friends can remember passing." Apparently, Andromeda was not above using the Naturals on this case even though she hadn't been told that she could. She pushed a few strands of curly hair out of her face before facing the teenagers. "Hermione - you need to make a few appearances outside. I would have you hand out a few flyers but even I won't push Amelia this far. Have you seen everything you needed to see?"

Hermione glanced at Fleur before shaking her head. She couldn't place it but she felt like she was missing something. She glanced around the room, laced her fingers with Fleur's before voicing her opinion. She pulled Fleur back to the bathroom without another word and began to methodically comb through everything in the room. Fleur cocked her head to the side in confusion before helping.

She found it before Hermione did. "Zere!" She pointed to a bit of graffiti on the wall. It was written in the same flowing script as the two cards.

_FOR A GOOD TIME_

The sentence cut off and both Fleur and Hermione frantically raked through the mirror for the next. Hermione found it next.

_CALL 5972-8772 GUARANTEED_

It cut off again but the pair found it easily enough.

_PLUS ONE. BIRDCAGE AND M_

The more Fleur read it, the less it made sense.

"Hermione? Fleur?" Andromeda asked from the doorway. 

Amelia had joined the group, arms crossed over her chest. "Hermione, outside. Now." She clearly considered it an order.

Hermione ignored it and held out her hand. "Pen," She said," And paper." Neither of the Aurors moved but Luna did, pulling a pen and notepad from her pocket, passing it over. "The UNSUB isn't here," Hermione informed them as the wrote down the note," But they did leave us a message." She passed the notepad to Amelia - who read it out loud.

"You think the killer left this?" She said like she didn't believe it.

"It is ze same as ze card," Fleur informed her. "What are you doing?"

Hermione had pulled out her phone, dialling the number at rapid speed. "Calling the phone number."

" _I'm sorry but the number that you're trying to call is not in service. Please check again later."_

Hermione groaned as she shoved her phone back into her pocket.

"Can I see your phone?" Luna asked, already reaching for it," I don't think that it's a phone number - or, not one that you're meant to call." She typed out the number and showed everybody. "On a keypad, 5972-8772 correlates to letters. Such words could include things like, salary, lauras, lyra, ursa, rural-"

"Lyra," Hermione said suddenly," And Ursa. That was my Mum's name - Lyra - and Ursa was her middle name. For a good time, call Lyra Ursa."

"Plus one," Fleur said softly," Do you zink zat it is ze killer's way of telling us zat we 'ave anozzer body?"

Hermione didn't answer. It didn't matter anyway, Fleur already knew the answer. In sync, they turned to the last message. _Birdcage and M._

"Symbolism, maybe?" Fleur asked," Birdcage - trapped, imprisoned. M - singular letter, detached."

"An anagram?" Luna had that far away look in her eyes - similar to the one that she had when Fleur had first met her, watching the ceiling fan spin with a body attached to it. "Decigram, gamebird, grimaced, Cambridge."

"Cambridge," Hermione said," It's the only one that combines all the letters."

"I'll get us a list of every building in Cambridge," Amelia said. She looked slightly in awe at seeing her pupils work so well with each other, reaching their conclusions so quickly and easily.

"It would be nice if we knew what we were looking for," Andromeda said curtly.

Hermione tapped her foot on the floor. _For a good time, call Lyra Ursa._

At first, she didn't have an answer. Maybe an abandoned warehouse in the Muggle side of town, maybe a apartment in the Wizarding side. All she could think about was how personal this had gotten. She was being called out - this message was for her eyes, like how the runes were for her, her interests.

_For a good time, call Lyra Ursa._

There was blood. The store room. Hermione swallowed thickly. "I'm not sure," She said. She felt light headed and stumbled back, being caught quickly by Fleur, who whispered worried French into her neck. "But I think that we're looking for a bar."

* * *

_Sitting in your apartment, you can't help but smile._

_It's cute._

_How they think that they can beat you - that they can catch you._

_Maybe, if the kids were older - if they had field experience - then they could catch you._

_But they can't._

_They can't catch you._

_They won't._

_You won't let them._

_You'll let Hermione see you though._

_Sweet, little Hermione Granger._

_She gets her smile from her mother - and her hair._

_You smile at the thought of her._

_She'll be yours soon enough._

_Lyra's daughter._

_She'll be yours as soon as she can be._

_You can hardly wait._


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group finds the killer's plus one

"We've got a body at a small, independent bar on the Muggle side of Cambridge." Amelia delivered the news barely two hours after Hermione had told her what to look for. "It's not Astoria Greengrass." 

Everybody breathed sighs of relief at that announcement.

"Shacklebolt, Podmore, Dawlish," Amelia carried on. Fleur noticed that she had fought the urge to clench her fists. "Take the kids back to the house. I want one of you posted outside of the front door, one at the back door and one with Hermione at all times." Amelia turned on her heel and began to leave. She was obviously confident enough that her orders would be followed through without her having to be there to see it happen.

But Fleur didn't need Harry or Ginny to be with here to know that the confidence was fake.

"I want to go with you," Hermione said.

Amelia brushed her off and continued walking.

"The same logic to this applies!" Hermione called after her," The UNSUB wants me to see this to the end, to follow the trail!"

Amelia stopped where she stood but didn't turn around. "I don't give a damn what this UNSUB wants. Frankly, I have had enough of pandering to his wishes. You will not to be part of this ridiculous goose chase Hermione! I am trying to keep you safe!" Her tone was uncompromising and full of warning - the same tone that she had used when she had talked to Fleur the first time in her study.

"You aren't my mother!" Hermione yelled. She broke out of Fleur's embrace and stalked up to Amelia - fixing her with a hard stare. "It's practically killing you that you haven't managed to solve this. It's killing Andromeda and it's killing me! And, out of the three of us, I am the most likely to actually end up dead because of it! If you don't want to use me as bait anymore, fine - I get that. But you have to take us with you." She stepped back into Fleur's arms and looped her arm through Luna's. "You wouldn't have found this body if it weren't for us. You need us there with you."

Amelia looked over all three of them. Hermione looked stubborn as she stared down the Auror. Luna looked hopeful and Fleur was sure that she mirrored that expression. At the beginning of this program, Fleur never saw herself working in the field, never saw herself being so comfortable finding the solutions to these problems. But now, Fleur just wanted to help. It was the whole reason for the program anyway. No matter how many classes the Aurors took, no matter how much experience they gained, they would never have the same finely tuned instincts as the Naturals did.

"Let her come," Andromeda said. She had been watching the argument between her partner and student for a while now without getting involved but now, she stepped forward - placing a placating hand on Amelia's shoulder. "If Hermione's old enough to play bait, then she's old enough to learn from experience." She cast a look to where Fleur and Luna were standing flanking Hermione. "They all are."

* * *

Forty five minutes later, after using the Floo twice and being apparated once, the group arrived at the bar. The Muggle police were already there and had to be obliviated before being sent on their way, thinking that it was nothing but a prank call. Hermione, Fleur and Luna lingered in the background for a few minutes while Aurors Shacklebolt and Podmore checked the surrounding area. While they worked, Fleur turned to her girlfriend.

"You do not 'ave to do zis," She said softly, resting a soft hand upon Hermione's cheek and angling her head upwards so they were looking at each other.

"I know," Hermione said softly. Tears had already pooled in her eyes. "But there's a part of me, deep down, and I know that it's stupid but- but it says that if I don't do this then I'm doing Mum a disservice and, and that terrifies me more than my death."

"I will be wiz you," Fleur vowed, resting her forehead on Hermione's," I swear."

"Promise?" Hermione's voice was timid and vulnerable - the first time that Fleur had heard it like that.

"Always."

Hermione nodded as she pulled away, grasping Fleur's hand tightly as they walked into the bar. It was certainly different to the club that they had gone into. For one, it was overwhelming Muggle. For two, Hermione looked completely at home there in an odd way. The back of Fleur's mind supplied a confession when Hermione had told her that she had practically grown up in bars when she and her mother weren't travelling - something about her mother always being able to get a job no matter how abruptly the pair had arrived.

Fleur could almost imagine it. A young Hermione practically living in a bar - endearing the other staff members, hiding behind the counter, sipping on whatever Muggle soft drink she was given. She could imagine Lyra Granger too - a whirlwind of a mother with a smile on her face as she served drinks, keeping a careful eye on her daughter as she did so. It was almost domestic in Fleur's mind's eye. She didn't notice that Hermione had tugged her along until they were standing outside of the store room.

Hermione dropped Fleur's hand.

She could smell it, even through the door. Not rotten - not just yet - but coppery, the smell of blood.

The room was rectangular. Boxes of alcohol lined the back wall with a small table and a few chairs sat stacked together on the left. There was blood smeared across the light switch, blood pooling by the door. Just like the store room all those years ago.

Hermione's arms felt heavy all of a sudden. Her lips felt numb and her breath caught dangerously in her throat. All of a sudden, she was stuck reliving the memory.

_The door is slightly open. The music from the bar, too loud in her ears. Old Sammy asks her to find her mother - he needs her to man the bar while he takes a call. Hermione pushes the door open - it's pitch black. There's something squishy beneath her feet, something wet. But the smell-_

_She gropes for the light switch. Her fingers brush against something wet and sticky on the wall. She frantically searches for the light switch._

Don't turn it on.

Don't turn it on.

Don't turn it on.

_She turns it on. She's standing in blood - hot, sticky, wet blood. There's blood on the walls, on her hands. A lamp is shattered on the floor. The break table is toppled over on the floor. There's a jagged line on the floor - from the knife._

A pressure on her shoulders caused Hermione to snap out of her memory. She turned around and met the worried gaze of Fleur, who leaned forward and pressed a comforting kiss to her lips. "We can leave if you want," Fleur said, despite already knowing Hermione's answer. "You 'ave got zis. You do not 'ave to do zis alone." Hermione nodded, swallowing thickly before glancing around the room again.

She could make out handprints - finger tracks - in blood, like the victim had tried to drag herself using the wall when she was too weak to stand.

"Time of death is estimated to have been late last night," Amelia told the group," We'll have the forensic healer's team here to see if they can get anymore fingerprints from the walls. A Squib by the looks of her small magical signature and-"

"That's not her blood."

Fleur and Hermione glanced towards Luna. She hadn't taken any notice of the room - had gone straight to the body, kneeling next to it.

"The healer's will tell you the same thing," She continued to say," This women is around five feet tall and approximately a hundred and ten pounds. Given her size, the death is mostly likely caused by the lack of blood. She's wearing jeans and a cashmere top. Cashmere - and other types of wool clothing - can absorb up to thirty percent of its own weight in moisture before even appearing damp. Her deepest wounds are on her stomach and chest - with small scratches for the runic symbols on her back. Additionally, both her jeans and top are tight - meaning that she needed to bleed through them both to even have this amount of blood."

Fleur and Hermione looked at the top in shock. Luna was right of course. It was drenched in blood.

"By the time that her clothes were saturated enough to leave a puddle of the size on the floor." She gestured with her hand. "Then she wouldn't have been conscious enough to run through the store room and fight off her attacker. Her body is too small, the clothes she's wearing don't expel liquid quick enough, she doesn't have enough blood - the numbers just don't add up."

"She's right," Amelia said softly. She crouched down onto the floor, gloves already on her hand as she inspected the grooves in the floor," This is a knife mark. You would think that their would be blood in the mark but there isn't. That either means he missed his first strike - unlikely due to her size - or that he purposely made those marks on the floor."

Hermione glanced at the woman again.

There was something wrong with this whole situation and she couldn't understand why. She glanced around the room. There was blood everywhere, she realised, instead of where she expected it most. The back wall - the one with all of the boxes - was surprisingly clean. Surprising, because her body was positioned right in front of the back wall and yet, no blood stained it. Hermione squeezed Fleur's hand tightly as she swallowed a sob. 

Fleur glanced at her quickly before following her gaze. It clicked into place quickly for her before she too, swallowed thickly.

"She was not killed 'ere," Fleur voiced what the pair of them were thinking," _You_ killed 'er. _you_ brought 'er 'ere. _You_ painted ze room in blood."

"For a good time," Hermione murmured," Call Lyra Ursa."

"Hermione?" Andromeda had remained silent since they had arrived but at Hermione's speech, she quirked an eyebrow and looked down at her - slightly worried.

"She's just a prop," Hermione said - louder than before," This is a set - like in the basement. It's a set, constructed to look exactly like my mother's murder. Exactly like it." Her gut twisted sharply at the admission.

"Okay," Andromeda sighed and glanced around the scene," So, I'm the killer. I'm fixated on you and I'm fixated on your mother. Maybe she was my first kill, maybe she was my favourite kill but this time, it isn't about her."

"It's about you," Fleur carried on from where Andromeda stopped, turning to look at Hermione with horror in her face," _You_ are not trying to relive 'er death. _You_ are tying to make 'Ermione relive discovering 'er."

The statement caused all of Hermione's stubborn resolve to crumble. She bit her lip before the floodgates opened. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she shrunk into Fleur's grip. The Veela stared down at her - suddenly struck by how small Hermione looked, how young she was.

"Auror Bones," One of the other Aurors popped their head inside - Fleur didn't know if it was Podmore or Dawlish. She found that she didn't care as, instinctively, her Thrall whipped out and suddenly changed into comfort rather than seduction. It wrapped itself around Hermione like a blanket - tight enough to provide love and support but not restricting enough to be suffocating. "The forensics team is here. D'you want me to hold them off?"

Amelia glanced at the team around her. Luna, who was still kneeling by the body wearing her own gloves, Fleur, who stared back at her with fire in her eyes as she tried to comfort Hermione and Hermione...Hermione who was in tears and breath was ragged in her ears at having to relive the time when she had found her mother's murder scene. Andromeda was standing a little way away, eyes worried as she stared at her two pupils draw strength from one another.

"Get them out of here, Podmore," Amelia said finally," I want you, Shacklebolt and Dawlish rotating on Hermione's protection detail. Director Carrow has given us some of his best Aurors for surveillance. From this moment on, Hermione is never alone. Tell Mad-eye that the house arrest is still in effect. Nobody leaves this house until this killer is caught."

Hermione didn't fight the orders,

She didn't fight to stay in the room, to collect more clues.

There weren't any. It was never about her figuring out who the killer was - it was about being forced to relive the worst day of her life.

From behind her, Luna joined in for the hug - wrapping her arms limply around Hermione's waist.

"There are fourteen types of hugs," She said," This is one of them."

Andromeda put a hand on her shoulder and Luna pulled away. Fleur stayed attached though. Her eyes were slits and she looked like she was five seconds away from blasting somebody with a fireball. But, as Andromeda guided them back to the Floo point, Fleur never let Hermione go.

* * *

_You sit in your room and take a sip of your wine._

_It's elf made - the highest quality._

_You raise it in a salute to nobody but yourself._

_You smile._

_It's very nearly time._

_It's nearly time for the final act._

_For you to reveal it all._

_You wonder if you can get away with doing it early._

_But - no._

_No._

_It's better like this - drawn out._

_It's a pain to wait._

_But it will just make the end result taste even sweeter._

_You can hardly wait._


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The roof is an excellent place for a chat  
> And the kitchen is a good place for an emotional talk

"Hey," Ginny said as she joined Fleur on the roof," I am not going to lie, those Aurors really know how to misdirect somebody. It took me ages to sneak out."

Fleur didn't reply, hand behind her head as she gazed up at the darkening sky. She barely reacted to Ginny's arrival and couldn't really find it in herself to care about what insults the girl was readying to throw at her. It was a pleasant surprise though when a spoon was thrust into her vision and a tub of ice cream placed onto her lap.

"Reckon that you need it more than I do," Ginny said in explanation as to why there was only one spoon. There was a beat of silence between them where Fleur glanced between the spoon in her hand and the ginger girl sitting in front of her - so unlike the girl that Fleur had first met at Shell Cottage all those months ago.

"Zank you," She said softly before opening the tub and scooping out some ice cream. Fleur had to admit, Muggles made the best things sometimes. Inwardly, she vowed that the next time she went home - although she shuddered at the thought of facing her family anytime soon - she would introduce Gabrielle to the wonders of Muggle made raspberry ripple ice cream.

"So," Ginny had obviously had enough of the bribery," Are you going to tell me what happened today or am I going to have to drag it out of Hermione?"

Fleur just raised a singular, mocking eyebrow.

"Fine, fine," Ginny amended her statement," Are you going to tell me what happened today or am I going to have to get Moody to drag it out of Hermione?"

Fleur sighed, gazed longingly at the ice cream in the tub before glancing at Ginny - fidgeting with her fingers. " 'Ow much do you already know?" She asked.

"Well," Ginny cocked her head to the side," Me and Harry were watching the Aurors approach people on the street, pretending to be trying to find Astoria. Theo was Merlin knows where, doing whatever the hell he was told to do. Then, out of nowhere, video cuts out. You lot come back several hours after, Hermione looks like she was crying, kisses you on the lips and locks herself in her bedroom! What the hell did me and Harry miss while you three went on your field trip?!"

"Ze UNSUB remade 'Ermione's mozzer's murder scene," Fleur said bluntly. She found that Ginny worked best when somebody was being completely blunt with her, down to business and straight to the point. Her ability made sure that it grated on her nerves when people danced around the subject too much. It was a similar tactic that Fleur used with Luna - although that was because metaphors and symbolism always seemed to go straight over Luna's head and being direct was what worked best.

"Shit," Ginny breathed out," That bastard!"

"Shut up," Fleur hissed, slapping her hand over Ginny's mouth," We do not want ze Aurors to find us sneaking out." She glanced around and fell silent for a moment before removing the hand in disgust when she felt Ginny lick it. "But, as you so eloquently put it, Ginny, oui - zat bastard."

"A cell in Azkaban would be too good for this sicko," Ginny muttered," How did she - Hermione, I mean - How did she take it?"

Fleur sighed and ran a hand through her hair, staring down at the melting ice cream in her lap. "As well as can be expected, I suppose," She said after a moment or two of contemplation," She is completely 'orrified at 'aving to relive finding ze scene. I do not know if it makes it worse or better zat zere was an actual body zis time." She stabbed the ice cream with her spoon before sighing again. "It does not matter 'zough, I will not let 'er be 'urt."

"You care about her," Ginny said. She was almost in awe - like it was the first time she had realised it.

"Of course," Fleur said," We are togezzer."

"No, I mean like," Ginny cocked her head to the side," The Veela part of you - whatever it is, entity or second-skin or instincts or something...The Veela part of you likes her as well."

Fleur froze for a second before nodding slowly. She hadn't thought of it before but, she supposed, that it made sense. Her Thrall's reaction to Hermione had never drawn her in as it did to other people - if anything, it tickled both Fleur's and Hermione's skins when they were together, a comforting reminder and a grounding presence. Anytime that Fleur thought that Hermione was in danger as well, her body would attempt a partial shift in the hopes of being able to defend her.

Fleur had no idea how Ginny had come to that conclusion - or where she had gotten the information on Veela's from - but Fleur was inclined to agree with her.

"You'll stay by her?" Ginny asked, worry plain in her face as she finally digested all that she been told.

"Always."

* * *

Fleur left the roof first and clambered back into the Cottage by slipping back in through her open bedroom window. She was glad that Luna wasn't in the room - one time she had tried to get back into her room after a midnight roof climb and found that Luna, having been woken up by the light breeze, had locked their window. 

Laughing slightly at the memory of her having to sneak in through the front door in the middle of the night, Fleur put the tub of ice cream back into the freezer. Sitting on the kitchen island were three bowls of instant noodles - another genius Muggle invention. Fleur already knew who the food was for. One was, obviously for her. One was for Ginny, who would probably come back in through her own window after another half an hour or so of lazing on the roof. The last one though, was most likely for Hermione.

Moody usually didn't allow the Naturals to eat instant food - he claimed that it was very unhealthy and would make them all unprepared if something terrible were to happen like a snake faced man bursting into the Cottage to kill Harry or something as equally stupid. But, considering the circumstances, Moody seemed to have made an exception. It brought a small smile to Fleur's face. He may have been a grumpy old man most of the time but, truly, deep down, Moody was a big softie that genuinely cared for the inhabitants of his house.

Picking up her own bowl and Hermione's, Fleur turned around...only to nearly jump out of her skin. Hermione had appeared from the hallway that led to the bedrooms. She looked more put together than earlier when she had been whisked away to her bedroom by Podmore - who then stood vigil over it when Hermione refused to let him follow her inside. Her curly hair (hair the same colour and consistency as the victim's) was loose and slightly damp from, what Fleur assumed was, a shower. She was in an oversized jumper and, with a jolt, the Veela smiled. It was her jumper and Hermione looked adorable wearing it.

"Hey..." Hermione said softly, nibbling on her bottom lip in worry. Behind her, still half hidden in the corridor, was Podmore - watching over her just like Amelia had ordered.

" 'Ello," Fleur said back," I was just coming to give you zis." She raised one of the bowls in her hands. "Do you want to eat 'ere or in your room?"

"Can we eat here?" Hermione rocked back on the balls of her feet," I just-"

"I get it," Fleur said, placing the dishes back onto the kitchen island," Come on. We should eat zis now before it gets cold."

"Yeah."

Hermione looked meek and insanely vulnerable as she sat down in the stool by the island counter, playing with the sleeve of her (Fleur's) jumper.

"What is it?" Fleur's heart couldn't take seeing Hermione look so sad - staring down at her food and moving it around her plate instead of eating any of it.

"It's nothing."

" 'Ermione," Fleur pulled Hermione's hands into her lap and stared at her girlfriend, features softening," Do not do zis to me. Just because I can profile you, does not mean zat I want to. Please, tell me what is wrong."

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, bottom lip shaking slightly as she caught Fleur's blue gaze," What's wrong is, Merlin, I don't know! Everything? Everything in my stupid life! Merlin, Fleur, this whole thing is fucked up. My mother dies, I find out that I'm a witch, I'm put in this program. I climb into the mind of killers without a second thought and I did everything I possibly could to show Amelia and Andromeda that I could do this, that I was ready for the field but no. No, this fucked up killer is sending me gifts of actual human hair! And, and mimicking my Mum's death and-" Fleur glanced down to see Hermione's fist clenched around the lipstick tube that Ginny had given her. "-And, I just. I want to throw _this_ fucking thing away because all it is, is bad memories but then it's really, my only link to my mother." There was a choking sound from Hermione's throat as she burst into tears and curled herself into Fleur's neck - openly weeping without caring who could see. "And...I'm sick of fucking crying all of the time!"

"It is okay," Fleur said quickly. Her Thrall snapped out without orders and curled around Hermione like it had done at the Muggle bar - a safety blanket of pleasant feelings. " 'Ermione, I am not going to let anyzing 'appen to you. I would razzer die zen see you get 'urt. I will not let 'im get to you."

"Fleur," Hermione said in a broken voice that had Fleur's heart splintering into a million pieces," I'm scared."

"I know," Fleur replied softly, reigning soft kisses on the top of Hermione's head," I know, 'Ermione. I am 'ere for you. You will be safe."

* * *

_It's nearly time._

_They are so close to you - but so far._

_But not Hermione, not Lyra's daughter._

_You wonder what was going through her head when she saw the scene._

_You wonder if she's worked it out yet._

_Everything._

_You wonder if her precious little friends have worked it out yet._

_Probably not._

_You can't wait to tell her - to show her what you've done and what you're going to do._

_You can't wait...and you can't wait for her to watch on as you reveal it all._

_Finally._


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fleur uses her ability for bad  
> Fleur and Hermione go through another case file  
> They make a shocking discovery

Fleur sat on the kitchen counter in annoyance. In front of her, sat her breakfast and next to it, was bacon for Hermione. She hadn't come out of her room.

"You okay?" Podmore asked from the hallway. He had been watching the front door in silence for a while now - had barely even batted an eye when Fleur had come storming down the hallway and slumped at the kitchen island.

She had been barred access to Hermione's room this morning by Shacklebolt who had stared her down and shot sparks at her when she had tried to enter. She wanted to argue back that Hermione was her girlfriend but chose not to. Instead, she vowed inwardly to come back later before turning on her heel and went to get breakfast. She was unbelievably annoyed and after only two days of the house being on lockdown, she was sure that cabin fever had already set in. She blamed that for the next words that came out of her mouth.

"You are divorced," She said curtly," Sometime during ze past four years, per'aps five. Long enough zat you should 'ave moved on already." 

She saw him flinch as she levelled her gaze at him. She didn't know whether they were slits or not but either way, whatever he saw in them was enough to unnerve him.

" 'Ow do you zink ze killer is going to kill my girlfriend?" She continued on," A Muggle me'zod or a wizarding one? Do you zink zat 'e will use ze knife?"

It was almost a definite fact at this point. This killer liked to be up close and personal. All of the autopsies had come back with the knife having traces of dark magic on it - preventing even healing balms from sealing the symbols scrawled onto the victims' backs.

There was a laugh from behind them and Harry stepped out of one of the many hallways that lead to the open plan kitchen and living room. "Why don't you cut the poor guy some slack, Fleur?" He said as he joined her," Honestly, I thought making grown men cry was Ginny's speciality not yours."

Fleur sniffed indignantly. "I am not making anybody cry."

Harry turned his gaze to her. "Underneath your ticked-off-that-they-won't-leave-your-girlfriend-alone-and-even-more-ticked-off-about-what-could-happen-if-you-two-were-alone exterior, I detect slight guilt which suggests that you did say something a bit bellow the belt and you feeling the tiniest bit bad for using your powers for evil and he," Harry jerked his chin to the Auror that was slowly inching closer to the front door - with the idea of guarding from outside with no social interaction was more agreeable than being with the pair of teenagers," is fighting down-turned and furrowed eyebrows. Do I have to tell you what that means?"

"Please don't," Podmore muttered.

"Of course, there's also his posture - which suggests some form of sexual frustration and-"

"I'll be outside," Podmore interrupted him," If anybody asks, direct them to me."

They both watched him leave and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. As soon as Podmore was out of side, he dipped his hand into his pocket. He pulled out a file that he enlarged back to its normal size before passing it to Fleur.

The title read: _Lyra U. Granger_

"I've got Ginny running interference with Shacklebolt and I'm sure that Theo is making Dawlish pose for a drawing."

* * *

Fleur was up like a shot. She swiped the case file from the desk along with the bacon that was now growing cold and hurried to Hermione's room. Whatever Ginny was doing to distract Shacklebolt, was working like a charm because he was nowhere to be seen as Fleur slipped into Hermione's bedroom.

The girl was sitting in her bed, staring at the wall blankly and hardly moved until Fleur placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Fleur?" She said.

"Oui," Fleur replied, sitting on the bed next to her and offering her a hug. A hug that Hermione immediately melted into. "I 'ave somezing for you."

"Hmm?"

Fleur took a breath and prayed to all gods - old and new - that Hermione didn't react negatively. She didn't think her heart could take it if Hermione started to cry again. So, Fleur took one of her girlfriend's hands gently and pulled out the file.

"Is that...?"

"Oui."

"But...how?"

Fleur shrugged before leaning her head against Hermione's. "I am sad to say zat I can not tell you. 'Arry gave it to me. I can only presume zat it was eizzer Amelia or Andromeda zat gave it to 'im. Do you want to look at it? We do not 'ave to if you do not want to..."

"No," Hermione said, moving herself into a more suitable position," I can do this, I have to do this."

They flipped open the file. It was generic really - interviews with the Muggle authorities, the owner of the bar, Hermione. The only thing worthwhile looking at were the crime scene photos. Whoever gave the file to Harry (probably Andromeda) had also slipped in the picture from the newer crime scene. They were practically identical.

"Look at the light switches," Luna said. Both girls jumped in shock, having not realised that she had entered the room.

Ginny was right behind her. She was grinning like a predator - all teeth, no emotion. "I took care of Shacklebolt, if any of you are wondering," She said as she sat down," He believes that he urgently needs to be in the kitchen. I reckoned that Hermione and Fleur needed privacy."

Oh yes, just Fleur, Hermione, Ginny and Luna. Definitely private. That wasn't even acknowledging the fact that Harry and Theo would be along soon enough.

"Look at the light switches," Luna said again - almost insistently.

"Why are we looking at ze light switches?" Fleur asked, brow furrowed as she checked the photographs.

"There's a single smear of blood on the light switch in both pictures," Luna explained," But on the more recent photo, the smear is on the top while on the older one it's on the bottom."

"Okay," Ginny raised an eyebrow," And a translation for those of us that don't spend hours running simulations?"

"In one of the photos," Luna answered," The smear was caused by somebody turning off the light while but in the other, the blood is because somebody turned the light on."

Hermione went unnaturally still next to Fleur and swallowed thickly. "I turned the light on," Hermione managed to get out through the roaring of blood in her ears," I needed to get my Mum from her break. I put my hand on the wall - it was wet. It was dark so I turned on the light."

Hermione couldn't help the twist in her gut before looking at Fleur.

"There was only one smear of blood on the switch - the first one, my Mum's crime scene - and that smear of blood came from my hand," She said.

If she had been saying that to anybody else then they would have been confused but she and Fleur were in sync with most things to do with profiling so it didn't take long before the Veela caught onto her train of thought.

"Your mozzer's killer would not 'ave known zat it was zere when you found ze body," Fleur said softly," Ze only people zat would 'ave known zat would be..." Her eyes widened as she tried to swallow the lump in her throat, throwing a fearful look in Hermione's direction.

"And yet," Hermione fought to keep her voice stable," Our UNSUB meticulously recreated my mother's crime scene. Including that detail."

 _You aren't reliving my mother's murder,_ Hermione didn't verbalise her thoughts like she usually did, _because you did not murder my mother._

Hermione could barely believe it. Because, if this UNSUB was not her mother's killer then who could it possibly be?

She backtracked mentally, going through everything that had happened since she received the first gift.

_The second gift, for her, but addressed to Luna._

_Astoria Greengrass._

_The message on the bathroom mirror._

_The bar in Cambridge._

"Every detail is planned," Hermione spoke aloud, instinctively slipping into a profiling mindset even if crawling into this particular killer's brain made her skin crawl," _I_ knew exactly what you'd all do. _I_ knew that Amelia and Andromeda would cave and bring some of them to the crime scene. _I_ knew that my code would be decoded, _I_ knew that you would find the body in the bar, the entire setup."

" 'Old on," Fleur said," Ze code." Everybody looked at her in confusion except for Hermione, who seemed to be prompting the girl to continue speaking. "Ze UNSUB left a message for you, 'Ermione. But you could not decode it, not alone." Both of their eye's drifted to Luna. " 'Ow did ze UNSUB known Luna would be zere? Did 'e expect 'er to decode it? Does 'e know what she can do? Because, if _you_ know about 'Ermione's mother's case then..."

"Then _I_ could know about the program," Hermione finished.

There was a silence for a moment before Hermione sucked in air loudly. "Merlin," She said," I thought that it was just a cruel irony - nothing more. But, Fleur, if he knows about my mother's case and the program...what are the chances he knows about the lipstick?"

* * *

Fleur and Hermione both leapt up in sync, dashing to the younger girl's closet. Ginny and the others looked at them in confusion.

Fleur found the lipstick first and threw it to Hermione, who caught it before whirling around on Ginny.

"Where did you get it?" Hermione demanded, squeezing it so tight that her knuckles began to go white.

"I bought it!" Was Ginny's response.

Fleur didn't recognise the lie the first time around.

"Ginny," She said firmly," We need to know. Where did you get it?"

The lie detector's eyes jumped between Fleur and Hermione in confusion before sighing and running a hand through her hair. "I found it on the bottom of my bed in a makeup bag a few months back," She shrugged," I figured that I just had a makeup fairy. In all honesty - I thought that it was from Luna."

Luna wrinkled her brow in confusion. "I haven't stolen makeup in months." Her eyes went wide and Fleur felt her stomach lurch.

She turned to look at Hermione and saw that she had come to the same conclusion.

There was a chance that the killer knew about the program.

The only people who would have been able to construct the crime scene so perfectly, the only people that would have been able to know about the blood on the light switch, were people that had access to the crime scene photos. Those people would also probably know about program meaning that they could be able to place a tube of Hermione's mother's favourite lipstick on Ginny's bed...which only meant one thing.

They had a leak.

* * *

_It's time._

_You know that it's time._

_It brings a smile to your face._

_The final reveal._

_You gather your things._

_The smile never leaves your face._

_The Aurors think that they can understand you - that they can understand what goes through your mind._

_They can't._

_They'll never know._

_But Hermione will._

_Lyra's daughter will._

_Hermione._

_You'll love her - or you'll kill her._

_Either way, she'll be yours._


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione and Fleur call the Aurors  
> A plan is made

"What is it?" Harry demanded, seeing the same look on both of their faces. They had no idea when he had arrived - with a sullen looking Theo standing behind him.

"Are you two okay?" Ginny seemed confused," You look...not good." 

Underneath all of her horror, Fleur wondered if that was as diplomatic as Ginny got.

Fleur turned to Hermione, searching her face and realised with a horrific jolt that they had come to the same conclusion. At first, Fleur was sure that she had just jumped the gun and had made an assumption but Hermione was calculated when it came to this stuff. They couldn't have possibly both made the same mistake. Fleur looked at her, long and hard. 

"We need to call Amelia," She said.

Wordlessly, whether from shock or terror, Hermione unwound her earphones and offered one of them to Fleur - putting the other in her own ear. Her hands were shaking slightly as she unlocked her phone and passed it to her girlfriend when it became obvious that she wouldn't be able to dial the number without dropping her phone.

"There are four people in my contacts," Her voice was barely above a whisper," Amelia is one of them."

Fleur took the offered phone. She had learnt how to use one a few days ago when she had asked Hermione to teach her, eager to learn about the things that her girlfriend had grown up using. She hadn't had the time to buy herself one.

The three other people in Hermione's contacts were Andromeda, Ginny and Moody. Fleur pressed Amelia's profile and reached out with her other hand to hold Hermione's and squeezed the hand in her grip comfortingly. She dialled Amelia.

No answer.

She tried again.

Still no answer.

Fleur swore in French before Hermione shakily reached over and pressed on Andromeda's contact.

_Please answer. Please answer. Please answer._

She answered and both Fleur and Hermione breathed twin sighs of relief. 

"Hermione?"

"It's us," Hermione confirmed, voice still very quiet.

"Hermione? Fleur? Is everything okay?" Andromeda's voice over the phone was staticky and barely audible but still comforting nonetheless.

"Non," Fleur said," It really is not."

It was easy to hear when Andromeda donned her professional, Auror mask rather than the one that was dripping with worry.

"Are you two alone?" She asked sharply.

"Non."

"Can you talk openly?" She asked. There was movement on her side of the phone. She was probably packing up her papers as she spoke to them, more than worried by Fleur's shaky voice and Hermione's mostly radio silence.

Fleur glanced around the room. Luna looked anxious. Harry seemed to be searching their faces again and even Ginny looked worried, teeth worrying her lip as she glanced between Hermione and Fleur. Theo had a frown on his face, eyes narrowed and posture closed off. He had his hand braced on his wand holster. The door to the room was opened and in sync, all of the Naturals turned to look over. Shacklebolt fixed a glare at Ginny for her distraction earlier before indicating that he would be guarding the door.

"Hermione, Fleur," Andromeda's tone held an edge in it," Can you talk?"

"I...I do not know," Fleur managed to breath out," I just, I- I do not zink so."

Both girls heard Andromeda sigh on the other side of the line.

"Girls, I need you to do something for me," She said," Tell whoever's around you that I'm in the middle of something and that I'll stop by the house as soon as I'm done. Hang up the phone, go to the bathroom and call me back. You live in a house of perceptive people. Act calm or they'll notice." 

Harry - she was talking about Harry.

Fleur nodded to herself, ended the call and pulled out the earphone.

"What did she say?" Ginny asked the question that they were all wanting to know the answer to. Her eyes locked onto Fleur's - ready to call out a lie the second it passed through her lips.

Hermione had managed to snap out of her shock as she pocketed her phone. "She said that she's in the middle of something and that she'll stop by the house as soon as she's done." It was the truth - that was exactly what Andromeda had said. Fleur watched as Ginny tried to pull out a lie but could find nothing. Hermione was talking loudly - just loudly enough so Shacklebolt could hear from the other side of the door.

Ginny opened her mouth to say something else. Hermione put up her hand to stop her before the words left her mouth. "Gin- not now. I just- I'm going to the bathroom." With that, Hermione made her escape.

With her girlfriend gone, everybody else turned to Fleur for an explanation. She shrugged and ran a hand through her hair. "I should go after 'er," She finally said," We zink that we 'ave worked out somezing but...I guess that it 'as put 'Ermione on edge." She passed Harry (not looking him in the eye so he didn't have the opportunity to call out her emotions) and Ginny, put a consoling hand on Luna's hand and almost missed the way that annoyance and irritation seemed to burn in Theo's eyes.

She met Hermione in the bathroom. The sink faucet was already running and the earphones had been pulled from the phone - Andromeda's contact already being dialled.

"Alright, girls," Andromeda picked up on the third ring," What's up?"

The words spilled from Fleur's lips quickly and efficiently - with Hermione putting in about the shade of lipstick being her mother's favourite.

On the other side of the phone, Andromeda let out some colourful curse words - many of which, Fleur didn't know existed. "Listen," Andromeda's words were just as hurried as Fleur and Hermione's were," I need to tell you something and I need you both to keep it a secret. Amelia is in a meeting with Director Carrow. We have reason to believe that the department has been compromised and, as such, we have to assume that the protection detail is as well. Hermione, I'm going to text you the location of a safe house - Amelia and I will meet you there. I need you to go down to the basement. There's a blocked staircase which leads to a Floo network. Get to it. Fleur, I need you to distract the others. I don't care how but do it. You need to buy Hermione time to get away."

The both murmured their consent, moving to hang up the call.

"Hermione," Andromeda said," Promise me that you'll do this. If you do something stupid, Hermione, I will spend the next five years of your life making sure that you deeply _deeply_ regret it. Okay?"

"Yes."

"Stay safe."

Andromeda hung up and Hermione slumped on the toilet seat, head resting on the wall and face full of unshed tears. Her phone buzzed - the location of the safe house. Fleur couldn't even comprehend how Hermione was feeling - the fear, the worry, the horror. But she did know that if it was her in this situation, then she wouldn't have been able to keep it together as well as her girlfriend was doing.

"Come on," She wiped her tears away quickly and offered Fleur her hand," We should get going."

" 'Ermione, Andromeda just said zat I should-"

"I know," Hermione said softly, squeezing Fleur's hand," But...I need you with me, Fleur. Okay? I just...I don't think that I can do this alone. Please?"

Fleur closed the gap between them and pressed a chaste kiss to Hermione lips before resting their heads together. "Always," She breathed out.

Hermione nodded once, a small smile on her face as she tugged Fleur from the bathroom and back into the house. Avoiding Shacklebolt and Dawlish was easy. Luna, Harry and Ginny seemed to be waiting for them back on Hermione's room.

Theo, however, nearly had the two of them being caught. He was lingering around the games room and Fleur and Hermione had to hastily double back until he wasn't looking, slipping into the back staircase.

* * *

The safe house, it turns out, was in Devon. The Floo couldn't send them directly there but Hermione had just enough data on her phone to use a map to get them there. Fleur insisted on going first. She had partially transformed - as she did in times of distress. Her inner Veela instincts demanded that she be able to defend the girl that she was courting. Feather's had sprouted across her hairline and wings had grown slightly - making her shirt a little tight as they pressed against the fabric.

The whole safe house was empty save for them and they settled in the living room. Hermione had slumped in the sofa, breathing ragged and the events of the day finally catching up to her.

"It will be okay," Fleur said as she rested her hand on Hermione's leg," I promise zat it will all be alright."

Hermione just sobbed, tears falling onto her clenched fists. She wiped them away angrily. "I shouldn't be crying," She said," Realistically, I know that Amelia and Andromeda won't let anything happen to us."

Fleur opened her mouth to respond but the creaking off a door had both of the girls shooting up. Tentatively making their way to the front door, Hermione tucked behind Fleur, they both froze. 

Theo stood in the doorway, wand raised and hand shaking slightly.

He stepped forward slightly - wand aimed at Fleur - and the two parties circled each other.

Theo was there and Fleur felt like one of those stupid girls in a Muggle horror movie - not realising something until it was staring at her in the face.

The killer had an inside source.

She could scarcely believe it.

"Put it down," Fleur snarled out. She could already feel her body heating up - ready to conjure a flame in the palm of her hand," Theo - put it down."

Theo's hand didn't waver as he kept his wand raised, pointing straight at Fleur.

"You were gone, Mione," He said," And Fleur was gone as well. I thought- I thought that-"

"I get it," Hermione's voice was gentle, hand out like she was trying to sooth a wild animal," Put the wand down Theo, please. We'll explain everything but we need you to put your wand down."

He looked at them both - really looked at them - from down his wand. He took in their anxious posture and scared facial expressions. He looked at the way that Fleur had protectively placed herself in Hermione - how they had slowly moved around the room so they could both run out of the front room if he suddenly turned violent.

Fleur repeated her earlier order and slowly, Theo lowered his wand. His closed his eyes before opening them again. His arm went limp at his side and he took a step back, baring his neck in the ultimate move of submission that seemed to calm the Veela instincts that had taken hold of Fleur.

He tucked his wand back into the holster and the moment that he did, two sharp noises rung through the air.

* * *

Hermione's ears rung, gut twisted and bile rose in her throat. She tried to work out where the noise had come from. Theo's wand was tucked in his holster and Fleur had relaxed slightly - her own wand tucked away and her hand still creating fire in her palm.

Theo's mouth was in a tiny O shape. Hermione watched in horror as blood bloomed on his white dress shirt. He's been hit - shot with a Muggle gun. Once in the shoulder and once in the leg. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he slumped like a dead weight.

Theo fell to the ground.

Hermione glanced away from him, to where Fleur had her wand in her hand - aiming straight at her.

_No. No no no no no._

That's when Hermione heard the voice behind her and realised that Fleur wasn't aiming at her. She was aiming over Hermione's shoulder, at the person standing behind her. At the person that stood behind her. The person that had shot Theo using a Muggle weapon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anybody have any ideas on who the UNSUB is yet?  
> If not, all is revealed next chapter :)


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet our UNSUB

_You've waited for this moment._

_You've waited for the moment that she would look at you and see what you already know._

_She still doesn't understand._

_She doesn't understand why you shot Theo._

_She doesn't understand who you are or what you are to her._

_But Fleur realises, in that split second._

_Her eyes are like slits._

_You didn't think that she had enough Veela in her to do a partial shift but she's surprised you, yet again._

_You see the picture form in her mind, puzzle pieces locking into place._

_You should have known that Hermione wouldn't have realised until too late._

_Fleur was the newcomer, the outside perspective._

_You notice the moment she works it out._

_The lessons you taught them together._

_The little hints that you dropped along the way._

_The way you're different with her then you are with Hermione, grooming her in your own image._

_The resemblance between the two of you is easy to see now - you would have thought that Theo would have worked it out before this._

_Maybe he did._

_Maybe he thought that it was a fluke - something to be swept under the rug._

_Your hair is brown too, with the same curly nature._

_Fleur aims her wand at you and the fireball forming in her hand but you're not frightened._

_You've read her psychological evaluation and had fun contributing to it with your own ideas._

_You know exactly how to get in her head, how to take her down._

_Fleur is just one more body, one more thing in the way of you and your heart's desire._

_Hermione. Lyra's daughter._

_You told her not to do anything stupid._

_You told her to come alone._

_You're going to have to punish her for that._

* * *

Andromeda was standing in the doorway, a Muggle gun in one hand and her wand in the other. She'd shot Theo - she's _shot_ him - and he was lying on the ground. He couldn't even block it - not like he could have done if it was spell that had been used. It was mistake, it had to be a mistake. She had seen Theo's wand raised at them and she had reacted...Because that was her job, to keep them safe. Although, where Andromeda had gotten the gun was totally beyond Hermione.

" 'Ermione," Fleur said softly," You need to come 'ere." Her voice was barely above a growl, wings straining her shirt and feather's sprouting all over her body.

"No," Andromeda said," Don't listen to her, Hermione. Come here, I'm here to keep you safe."

Fleur tracked Andromeda's movements with her wand, eyes narrowed into perfect slits and wings struggling to break through her clothing. Her growl was audible, lips curled up to reveal fangs.

"Are you a killer, Fleur?" Andromeda asked, grey eyes wide and earnest," I wondered. Director Carrow was hesitant to let you join the program. The British tell tales about Veela that attacked people because they felt that they're entitled to someone." She stepped forward, passing Hermione until Fleur and her had their wands pointing at each other's chest. "Well, guess what? Hermione doesn't belong to you. Does it keep you up at night?" She tried to step forward again, tried to get Fleur to take a step back - to be intimidated - but the Veela instincts inside reared its ugly head and kept Fleur from moving backwards even one pace. "Do you wonder what it would be like to lose control of yourself? To snap so completely? I think that you'd kill Hermione, wouldn't you?"

It was a split second thing - Fleur shifted her gaze from Andromeda to Hermione. 

It was all the opportunity Andromeda needed, sending a stunning spell through her wand that caused Fleur to be sent backwards, hitting her head on the wall as she went before she too, was lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood.

"Finally," Andromeda said as she turned around to face Hermione," It's just us." She looked at the gun in her hand in disgust before placing it on the floor and dusting her hands off like using it had left dust on her hands. "Muggles," Andromeda said fondly with a roll of her eyes," They just don't know when to stop creating."

Hermione swallowed and discreetly tried pulling her wand from its holster - taking one tiny step towards Fleur and Theo.

"Nu-uh-uh," Andromeda tutted and Hermione's wand went soaring into the older witch's hand and was tucked into her pocket," You stay right there, Hermione. We're going to have a little chat about following orders. I told you not to do anything stupid. Bringing Fleur with you was _stupid_ and letting Theo follow you was _sloppy_."

One second she was standing there, a few feet away. She looked exactly like the woman that Hermione had known since she was thirteen, so full of life, talented at getting her own way. But in the next second, Andromeda was on top of her. A blur of silver flashed across Hermione's vision as the hilt of a knife was slammed against her cheekbone.

Pain exploded in Hermione's face a moment later. Suddenly, she was on the floor and could taste the coppery blood in her mouth.

"Stand up," Andromeda's tone left no room for argument but there was an edge to it that Hermione had never heard before," _Stand up."_

Hermione clambered to her feet as Andromeda caught her chin in her left hand. Hermione's head was angled upwards and she felt blood drip down her lip. She could feel her eye swelling shut and even the smallest movement caused stars to build in her vision.

"I told you not to do anything stupid. I _told_ you that I'd make you regret it if you did." Andromeda's fingernails dug into Hermione's skin and the younger witch thought about the symbols that were scrawled on the victim's backs.

The _knife_ \- by the exact knife that was held in Andromeda's other hand.

"Don't do anything else that I'll be forced to make you regret," She said coldly," You'll only be hurting yourself."

Hermione looked into her eyes and wondered how she could have missed it. She had spent three years (technically four if you recounted the year she spent with a time turner) with this woman, every weekday. She had spent years with her and hadn't even realised that there was something wrong with Andromeda, something off about her.

"Why?" She knew that she should have kept her mouth shut - Hermione had always been told that her curiosity would get her killed someday. She didn't think that it would be literally how she died.

Andromeda ignored her question and glanced at Theo's prone body on the floor. "It's a shame," She said almost like she felt guilty although Hermione knew that she did not," I'd hoped to spare him. His gift was very valuable and he certainly took a shine to you. They all did."

With no warning, she brought the hilt of the knife back down across Hermione's face. This time though, she caught the girl before she fell.

"You're just like your mother," She said in an almost wistful tone before tightening her painful grip on Hermione's arm, forcing her to stand up straight. "Don't be weak. You're better than that. _We're_ better than that and I won't have you snivelling on the floor like some cheap whore. Do you understand me, Hermione?"

Hermione understood that those words had probably been told to Andromeda many times. Hermione understood that if she asked how her mentor knew her mother then she would be hit again and again and again.

Hermione understood that she might not get back up.

"I expect an answer when I talk to you, Hermione. You weren't raised in a barn."

"I understand," Hermione said, filing away her choice of words, the almost maternal undertone that accompanied them. She had assumed that the UNSUB was male. She'd assumed that killing only females highlighted some kind of underlying sexual frustration. But it was Andromeda that had taught her that changing one assumption could change everything.

_What if he is a she?_

She'd practically admitted to being the killer but it had gone right over Hermione's head - because she trusted Andromeda. Because she had put her trust in the wrong person.

"Okay, Hermione, let's get this show on the road," Andromeda sounded so much like her normal self that it was difficult to remember that she was holding a knife in her hand. "Now, I've got a present for you and I'm going to go get it. If you move while I'm gone, if you so much as blink in a way that I don't like then I'm going to shatter your knee, beat you within an inch of your life and then I'll kill your pretty girlfriend over there."

She gestured to Fleur's body, lying on the floor - stunned and with a head wound but alive. Hermione couldn't bring herself to look at Theo - who had been shot without even a second thought.

"I won't move," Hermione said carefully.

She was only gone for a few seconds and Hermione took a step to Andromeda's gun, discarded on the floor next to Fleur. But then she froze. She knew that Andromeda wasn't lying. Andromeda would hurt her and then kill Fleur. So, Hermione hesitated and even a moment's hesitation seemed too long. Andromeda was back - and with somebody this time.

Astoria Greengrass, to be precise.

"Please don't hurt me. Please. My dad has money. My Mum has money. Please. They'll give you whatever you want - anything. Just please don't-"

It took Hermione a moment to recognise Astoria's face. There were ugly cuts - runes - carved into her shoulders and neck. Her face was swollen beyond recognition and blood was crusted in her scalp - stark against her light hair. The skin under her mouth was pink like somebody (Andromeda) had ripped duct tape off of it.

"On the first day I met you," Andromeda said as she hit Astoria with a _silencio,_ " I told you that you were one of mine."

Hermione struggled to remember the exchange. It was when she was younger - thirteen. When it had just been her, Moody and Amelia. She had been sitting on the beach, wrapped in a blanket - not wanting to socialise. Andromeda had come to sit next to her.

_You knew my mother, you know me. You hit me, hurt me and told me that it was my fault. You were almost certainly abused as a child. You said that I was one of your's. I'm not like your other victims. You sent me presents. You groomed me._

"The first day we met," Hermione was desperately trying to remember the whole exchange," I asked you what made me one of yours - you said that you couldn't tell me until I was at least twenty."

Andromeda looked genuinely pleased that she had remembered. "You were so young then." It was back again, the maternal undertone was back again. "So vulnerable. I thought that you wouldn't be ready but you are now. You're ready, Hermione. You were mine. You belonged with me. I thought that I would have to wait until you were older but I don't. Because you're ready."

She pushed Astoria roughly to her knees, cancelled the silencing spell. The girl collapsed, shaking and the taste of terror was hanging in the air. Andromeda saw Hermione looking at the crying girl and smiled.

"I got her for you. The symbols? All of the runes? They're for you - your favourite subject."

Wand in her right hand, Andromeda held her knife out to Hermione - hilt first. The look in her eyes were vulnerable, hopeful and hungry all at once.

_You want something from me._

Andromeda didn't want to kill her - or, at least, not yet. She wanted Hermione to take the knife. She wanted Hermione to slit Astoria Greengrass' throat. She wanted Hermione to be her protégé in more ways than one.

"Take the knife, Hermione."

She took the knife immediately but eyed the wand.

"Is that really necessary?" It was a struggle to keep her voice level. It was a struggle to not let it show how horrifically sick she felt at even the thought of stabbing Astoria Greengrass. "If I'm going to do this, I want it to be _mine."_

Hermione was speaking her language, telling Andromeda what she wanted to hear. Tried to show that Hermione was like her, that they were one in the same. Tried to show that she understood what this was all about - anger, power, control, being able to decide who lives and who dies. Slowly, Andromeda lowered her wand but didn't put it down. Hermione wondered if she could sink the knife into Andromeda's shoulder before she had the chance to hit her with a spell.

Andromeda was stronger though. She was a better witch. She was a killer.

Stalling for time, Hermione knelt next to Astoria. She bent down, letting her lips graze the ear of the younger witch and prayed that her face reflected the crazed look that she saw in Andromeda's. Then in a low voice that only Astoria could hear, Hermione whispered," I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to get you out of here, okay?"

Astoria looked up, her body still unable to move from the floor. She grasped Hermione by the front of the shirt and pulled her closer. "Kill me," The words escaped bloody, cracked lips," Kill me before she does, please."

Hermione knelt there, frozen, just as Andromeda lost it. She morphed from a teacher watching their prized pupil into a feral creature. She pounced on Astoria, turning the girl onto her back - pinning her to the floor.

"You don't touch Hermione," She yelled," You. Don't. Get. To. Decide."

She turned around and tugged the knife from Hermione's hand. "You can't do it!" She hissed," Why can't you just do it?!"

Astoria opened her mouth. Andromeda plunged the knife into her side. Hermione had promised to protect her, to get her out of here and now...

Now, there was blood.


	22. Chapter 22

Andromeda stood up, kicking Astoria's body to the side. It didn't seem to matter to her that the girl was still alive - whimpering as she was discarded like she was already dead. Andromeda's gun may have been lying on the floor and her wand may have been tucked into its holster but the knife that she was clutching in her hand told Hermione that she wasn't as safe than the moment before.

Andromeda was going to cut her.

Andromeda was going to carve her up.

Andromeda was going to kill her.

"You're a liar," The woman snarled," You couldn't do it? Do you want to? Well? DO YOU?!"

She was screaming now, saliva flying everywhere. Hermione stumbled back a few steps, nearly tripping over her own feet. She opened her mouth to respond, to tell Andromeda what she wanted to hear - what she needed to her. Hermione wasn't given the chance to. Andromeda looked at the blade in her hand before glancing at Hermione and then back again. She advanced.

"You were supposed to kill her," Andromeda said," I got her for you."

"I'm sorry-"

" 'Sorry' never did anything! _Lyra_ was sorry but then she had to go. But then she left!" Andromeda's voice broke slightly but it still held a cold edge. "You were supposed to kill her, Hermione. It was supposed to be _us!_ You and me. But then you _left!"_

Hermione took another step back. She got the feeling that Andromeda wasn't talking to her anymore. Her eyes held a certain madness within them but as she looked at Hermione, she didn't see _her._ The blade in Andromeda's hand gleamed, Astoria's blood dripping onto the floor.

Hermione imagined that she had two seconds, maybe three.

"What do you mean, I left?" Hermione asked. She prayed that it broke through whatever haze had descended upon her mentor, that she snapped out of the madness. "Left where?"

Andromeda froze, blinking a few times. She looked at Hermione. She saw _Hermione._ Andromeda's voice was steady but still full of venom. "Lyra left. She was nineteen, I was twenty-three. We were supposed to watch out for each other, to protect each other. I had to move back home after things with my husband didn't work out - he kept Nymphadora. I had to move back home where, at night, Daddy went away and the monster came out to play. Sometimes, Lyra would make him angry at her, on purpose, so she would get hit and not me."

In the back of her mind, Hermione knew that Andromeda had had a husband once upon a time. The signs were there, of course, but she had never thought to ask about them. She knew that the pair had split but hadn't actually gone through a divorce - magical lawyers were more expensive than the newest broomstick. Hermione also knew that Andromeda had a daughter that she didn't speak to anymore - knew that daughter had moved to Romania with one of her friends to study dragons. Hermione knew that this UNSUB was fixated on her mother - now she knew why.

"Lyra was a Squib," Andromeda continued," And Daddy didn't like that at all. My two other sister's barely ever saw her as our relative, wanted Daddy to send her away, disown her like he nearly did to me when I married the Muggleborn. But, he didn't. He kept her. He may not have considered her his daughter but she was _my sister._ She knew what he was like but she still left. She knew what it would be like for me but she still did it. Because of _you._ Because Daddy was right - Lyra was a little whore and when I found out that she was carrying the Muggle boy's baby..."

Andromeda seemed completely caught up in the memory and it gave Hermione some time to glance at the gun that was lying on the floor. A few weeks after Fleur had arrived at the house, Amelia had taught the group how to shoot a gun - even though the gun laws in England were strict for both Muggles and Wizards. Hermione wondered if she could reach it in time.

"I thought that Daddy would be angry - that he would kill her. But he didn't, he was happy - happy that the Squib had a chance of having a Magical baby, even if your blood wouldn't be pure. She was pregnant and he was happy. But then she left - in the middle of the night. She snuck out and I saw her. She saw me as well. She was at the bottom of the staircase, I was at the top. She _saw_ me, placed her finger on her lips and walked out the front door. _For you._ So Daddy would never get his hands on _you._ She left me there to rot and when he found out, the only person that he could punish was me."

_You'll only be hurting yourself._

_I won't have you snivelling on the floor like a common whore._

Hermione's mother had never spoke about her family, never talked about the three older sister's. She'd never mentioned an abusive father or absent mother. But Hermione could see it in her mind's eye. She could see the family unit, the Daddy-monster and the four sisters - each of them sporting red welts and purple bruises. She could imagine the two sisters that were allowed to leave because they made 'proper' marriages, befitting of a pureblooded woman. Hermione could imagine the sister that married a Muggleborn only to have it blow up in her face. She could imagine the youngest daughter, the Squib - _her mother._

"When people ask me why I do what I do," Andromeda said," I tell them that I joined the Aurors because somebody I loved was murdered. I'd finally gotten out of the house and I spent years trying to find her. I went to Narcissa - asking if Lyra had come to her. She hadn't. I spent years tracking down my youngest sister. If she'd told me what she was doing then I could have come with. I could have helped with you! You would have loved me just as I love you."

Hermione got the idea that this was a scenario that was often played in Andromeda's mind - the 'what if'. What if she had gotten out of that hellhole earlier. She had thought of Lyra. Andromeda had thought of Hermione, before she had even known her niece's name.

"She shouldn't have left you," Hermione said the words quietly, slightly fearing Andromeda's reaction. They felt true though. They were both adults when Lyra left but, deep down, Hermione knew her mother should have told Andromeda what she was planning on doing. She had just left, without even a thought. Hermione had been running from her own father for most of her life. She had never imagined that she was running from her mother's past as well - a past that Hermione had never even known about.

"She shouldn't have left me," Andromeda repeated," But over time, I gave up on that little dream. I thought about what I would do when I found you two. I thought about hurting her, like how Daddy hurt me."

_The storage room. The blood. The smell..._

"By the time that I found her - she was already dead. She was gone and it wasn't fair. I was supposed to be the one to kill her! It wasn't fair!"

Hermione's aunt hadn't killed her mother - but only because somebody had gotten there first.

"When I found that she was dead, I thought of you. I searched and searched for you. I found your father - I thought that maybe you would have been sent to him but you weren't there. You were with the Aurors - with Amelia - and then I got angry. Merlin, I was _so_ angry. They hadn't even entertained the thought that your mother had been a Squib. I was your _family_ and they didn't even know. I went to go get you, you know, when you were still in London. I got to my hotel and there was a woman there... She was cheap and loose and, _merlin,_ her hair was the right shade of brown. I killed her, stabbed her and I said,' how'd you like that, Ly? How do you like that?'. I imagined Lyra's face, you know, and it was the sweetest thing." She paused like she was remembering the memory. "It's always like that and, after the first time, you just need more."

"Is that why you joined?" Hermione asked, still stalling for time," The Aurors - a cover story, lots of travelling."

Andromeda took a step towards her and, for a moment, Hermione wondered if Andromeda was going to beat her - again and again and again.

"No," She said," That's not why I joined."

"You joined the Aurors to find out who killed my mother - you think that it's somebody magical."

Not because she was sad Hermione's mother was dead but because she wanted to be the one that did it.

"I studied. I joined the Aurors. I passed the psych exams with flying colours. Even once Amelia brought me into the program, nobody saw anything that I didn't want them to. Harry never saw a hint of unsavoury emotion and Ginny never caught me out on a lie that I didn't want her to." 

Hermione glanced towards the two bodies on the floor behind the Auror. Theo was out cold, blood pouring from his wounds but Fleur... Hermione felt the Thrall slowly lap her skin before she saw her girlfriend move. She looked like she had been hit by something as worse as a stunner like Hermione had first thought. She couldn't walk, couldn't even crawl but Fleur pulled herself across the floor - to Andromeda's abandoned gun.

Andromeda moved to follow her gaze and Hermione stilled.

"It's not the same!" She blurted out before covering her mouth in horror.

"What isn't?"

"You tried to restage my mother's death," Hermione said quickly," But you got it wrong. What you're doing to these women isn't the same as what _I_ did to my mother."

Andromeda looked like she flinched, grey eyes - Hermione's mother's eyes - blinked once in shock at the confession. Hermione saw the longing in them - saw how much Andromeda wanted Hermione to be like her.

"My mother didn't protect me," Hermione said," Even after we ran from Dad. There were men, a new one for every new place we went. She didn't love them. She didn't stay with them. She didn't care when they took their frustrations out on me. She was weak and she _hurt_ me. So I hurt her."

Andromeda's disbelief was obvious in her face but her eyes still held that longing.

"She was mucking around in the storeroom - putting on lipstick. Pretending to not be the monster that she was. I said her name. She turned around. Then I took my knife and plunged it into her stomach. She said my name. Just 'Hermione' and that was it. My magic must have reacted because all of the bottles started to shake as I stabbed her again and again and again. She fought. She kicked. She screamed. But this time, I was the one doing the hurting. I was in control. She fell onto her stomach and I flipped her over. I didn't carve off her face, I didn't scrawl runes onto her back. I dipped my finger into the wound and I painted her lips with blood. Then I got scared and I hid the body. I was so scared of being caught."

The knife fell out of Andromeda's hand as she stepped forward two steps and cupped Hermione's face - pressing a kiss to the top of her head in an odd, motherly gesture.

"I understand," She said as she stepped away, hands lingering before dropping to her side," I understand."

Hermione held her breath as Fleur's Thrall grew stronger against her skin. Her eyes drifted behind Andromeda again to where Fleur had managed to roll onto her side, heaving breaths near silent as she grabbed the gun and raised up onto one of her knees. Hermione took a few hurried steps backwards.

Andromeda glanced behind her for a second, seeing the scene before her. She turned back to Hermione a second later, eyes wide but didn't get a chance to react. A gunshot rang through the room. Then two, then three, four, five. Hermione's aunt Andromeda fell to the floor, body splayed out next to Astoria Greengrass.

_Dead._


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fleur is faced with a choice while Hermione deals with the aftermath

Theo was in St Mungo's for three weeks after the attack. Fleur was released after three days. But - even when they were all back in the house - nobody had truly recovered. 

Astoria Greengrass had survived - barely. She refused to talk to any of the team, least of all Hermione.

Theo had months of physical rehabilitation in his future - even with the magical healing that he had gone through. Some of the Healers mentioned that he might never walk without a limp again. Hermione was dealing with her own realisation. Namely, that the mentor she had admired for so many years was a serial killer. It also didn't help that, as Hermione threw herself into her family history, she found herself being the niece of Bellatrix Black Lestrange as well. All Luna could talk about was the unlikelihood of a serial killer being able to pass the background check and psych tests required to become an Auror working in the homicide department.

The worst thing of all though, was that Andromeda's story checked out. She and her three sisters (one older and two younger than her) had been raised at Black Manor near the border between Scotland and England, though all of them seemed to have shed their accents as they grew up. Their mother, Druella Black nee Rosier had run off when Hermione's mother had been nine after two cases of battery and domestic abuse against her husband fell through. After Andromeda's own marriage had failed with her husband, Ted Tonks (who was now dead due to heart failure), taking complete custody of their daughter, she had been forced to return home.

They had grown up in hell. Hermione's mother had gotten out but Andromeda had had to come back.

The murders were a mess for the department to cover up. More than twenty people had been killed over the years and a politicians daughter had been kidnapped. The prohibition of the Naturals working on active cases was back in full force again and Director Carrow had made sure of it. He had personally come to the house to the deliver the news while also informing Amelia that he had had enough of her bullshit training. It was clear to him and everybody that all of the Naturals were ready to work on actual cold cases - the type that hadn't been closed for years.

Director Carrow had also - somehow - kept all of their names out of the media. As far as he was concerned, while the killer was not in Azkaban, she was dead which meant the case was closed. He didn't see why the media was making the murders out to be such a big thing.

Two weeks ago, Fleur pulled the trigger. She shot Andromeda Black-Tonks and all she could do as she sat on the shore, was run the events over in her head, again and again and again.

"If you're going to leave the program, Fleur, then just leave already. But for Merlin's sake, if you're going to stay then stop moping about like your kitty cat has dragon pox and do something about it."

Ginny stood above her. Out of all of them, she seemed to be the only one that hadn't changed as a result of it all. It felt slightly comforting for Fleur that she could always count on Ginny to stay the same.

"What do you want me to do?" Fleur asked as she stood up until the pair of them were eye to eye.

"You can start," Ginny said with a devilish smile," By getting rid of that lipstick that Hermione carries around." Leave it to her to know that Hermione still carried it around. Apparently it had been her mother's favourite even as a girl. At the mention of it, Fleur's mind went back to what they had found in Andromeda's apartment. She had taken lipsticks from each of her victims and lined them all up in a neat little line in her bathroom cabinet. "And then, you decide if you want to stay in Shell Cottage with us all."

Fleur thought of each occupant in the house. She thought of Theo, who was still hopelessly in love with Fleur's girlfriend to the point that he followed them to a safe house even though he thought that Fleur was the UNSUB. His leg may never recover but it brought back Fleur's first assessment of him. Theodore Nott was a good person. She thought of Luna. Luna, who had hacked into a USB drive and gone to a crime scene just so she could help. Fleur thought of Ginny and Harry - opposites to each other but who fit together seamlessly. Ginny, who never missed an opportunity to tease her and Harry, with his sweet smile, his good cooking and his ability to get Ginny to lay off her target.

Fleur thought of Hermione, the girl that had lost so much but still kept going. The girl who had gained an aunt and lost them within an hour. The girl that now had nightmares and tossed and turned in bed and screamed the house down until Fleur came running in to give comfort. Theo may have been in love with her but it was Fleur who held Hermione's heart. Fleur imagined her life with Hermione, graduating the program at twenty (because apparently, the British government had changed the age of adulthood to twenty after the near destruction of the wizarding world due to riots following Grindelwald's defeat), going off to France to complete a bonding ceremony and joining the taskforce of Aurors in the homicide department.

None of that could happen if Fleur left.

"Well?" Ginny asked. She had done a good impression of a patient person but, clearly, her capacity to wait for Fleur's reply had already been stretched to its limit. "Are you in or out?"

Fleur looked at her. "I am not going anywhere. I am in zis but 'Ermione can keep ze lipstick, if she wants."

"Somebody is finally growing claws," Ginny said. She made a fake scratching motion before doubling over in laughter.

"Yeah, yeah," Fleur said as they walked back," I love you too."

"I'm not saying that I like you," Ginny said as they headed down the path," I'm not saying that I'll stop taking your ice cream or stealing your clothes and I'm definitely not saying that I won't make your life a living hell if you try and jerk Hermione around but," She stopped and turned to Fleur," I don't want you to go, Fleur. You make things interesting."

She flounced into the house after that and Fleur had a ghost of a smile on her lips as she watched Ginny go.

* * *

Fleur found Hermione sitting in the games room, alone. Two owls were sitting on the desk in front of her, glaring at each other - or, Fleur corrected, glaring at each other as much as a pair of owls could.

"What are you looking at?" Fleur said softly as she sat down next to her girlfriend. They hadn't spoken much to each other in the two weeks after Andromeda's death. They hadn't needed to. They had just drawn from each other's silent companionship and it seemed to be more than enough. Fleur was dealing with the aftermath of killing somebody while Hermione was dealing with the realisation that she had two killers for aunts (one of which was in Azkaban while the other had been teaching Hermione for years and she had never noticed) while also finding out that she did still have a family left.

"Letters," She said softly," My mother and Andr-" She broke off slightly and sighed. She hadn't allowed herself to say her previous mentor's name since the fallout over what had happened. "My mother had another sister - Narcissa. She's contacted me." Hermione nodded to the regal looking tawny owl that preened itself without a care in the world. "She wants to meet me." 

Fleur reached out to take Hermione's hand and squeezed it lightly - offering comfort - as her Thrall leaked out to offer its own form of support. "You do not 'ave to if you do not want to," She said softly," I am sure zat she would understand."

Hermione just nodded, brow still wrinkled as she jerked her chin towards the horned owl that was waiting. It was less elegant that Narcissa's owl with patches of feathers missing in odd places. "That one is from Andro- From _my cousin_ , Nymphadora Tonks. She said that she's going to head back to the UK for her mother's funeral and," Hermione swallowed," She wants to meet me as well."

"Do you want to meet 'er and Narcissa?" Fleur asked softly, moving closer as she wrapped an arm around Hermione's shoulders.

"I think...I think that I do but, Merlin, Fleur - I don't know. What if they just end up like _her?_ She wasn't caught for years and nobody knew what was-"

Her words froze in her throat as Fleur leaned forward and pressed a sweet kiss to her lips. Fleur had found that it was the best way to silence her when Hermione went off on one of her tangents.

"You are over'zinking again," Fleur said as they broke away," I never said zat you 'ave to go alone."

"You'll come with me?" Hermione asked," But- I thought that maybe you would want to leave. I mean, after everything that's happened since you've arrived."

"I am staying," Fleur said firmly," I am no coward, 'Ermione, and it takes more zan zat to send me running."

"Are you sure? Even if we get dragged into another case? Even if we get attacked again?" Hermione stared at her long and hard as if not fully understanding why Fleur would continue to want to associate herself with her.

"I will stay for as long as you will have me."

Hermione's confused look melted into a smile. "You'll never leave then," She said," I'm planning on keeping you forever."

"Always," Fleur breathed out as she leaned in for another kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've decided that I'll probably do some sequels at some point.  
> I don't know when (probably when I finish my other fics) but it will happen at some point so stay tuned.


End file.
